Cotillion
by PilotGirl01
Summary: "It seemed her mother had managed to plan another form of suffering for her only daughter. And her father was actually willing to allow this to happen! There had to be some way to get out of this. But how?" A simple story of a daughter's relationship with her father as they both are forced to undergo a rite of passage. Usual non-yaoi pairings. 1xR 2xH 3x12 4xD 5xS 6x9
1. Chapter 1

Cotillion

* * *

It started off like any other night for Heero Yuy.

He was quietly sitting in his favorite armchair, a gift from his loving wife and two children years ago to prevent him from falling asleep in his usual "uncomfortable" position in whatever was available at the moment, and reading over his notes from a recent case file from work.

To his right sat his oldest child, Zerina, her long dark brown hair falling down past her shoulders as she was engrossed in what appeared to be another murder mystery book, obscuring her crystal blue eyes from his view. He could hear the faint canned explosions and gunfire erupting from the latest video game his second child was playing in his bedroom down the hall, the only other noise in the moderately sized home he and Relena bought the year after their wedding nearly twenty years ago.

It was actually quite nice to be relaxing by the fire with most of his family nearby, a scenario his fifteen-year-old self would never have dreamed of having. If only his dear loving wife was home instead of working late again, then the scene would be complete.

The peaceful moment was soon interrupted by the ringing of the house phone on the night table to his right. He glanced over to Zerina, the slightly annoyed expression on her face signifying that she had no intention whatsoever of answering it, and sighed to himself before standing up to grab it himself.

He hesitated a moment at seeing Relena's work number flash on the I.D. screen, wondering briefly why she would be calling from the basic office phone and not her vid phone, and immediately went on guard.

"Is this line secure?" he asked upon answering, his voice low.

Relena's soft laugh in his right ear caused him to relax his tense posture. "Everything is fine on this end, Heero. I just didn't want to risk Rina seeing me... Is she there now?"

His deep blue eyes darted over to the girl in question who had somehow sensed her parents speaking about her and was already sitting up. She rolled her eyes and grunted her disapproval at having to leave her comfortable spot, slamming her book shut in irritation and jumped to her feet.

"It's getting too loud in here, I'm going to my room," she grumbled as she stepped a little louder than usual past her father towards the door of the study. She didn't bother shutting the door as she continued her noisy pace down the hallway.

Heero waited until he heard her stomping ascend the staircase before he continued the conversation. "She's gone now," he stated simply.

There was a sigh of relief on the other end of the line and then a momentary pause as he assumed Relena was choosing her words carefully. "Good. I just didn't want her to overhear what I'm about to ask you."

Heero was in the process of sitting back down into his warm inviting chair when her last four words stopped him, the familiar feeling of dread filling his chest as it usually did with those particular words. "Which is...?" he asked cautiously, his mind already filling with various scenarios of torture that she was implying.

He could practically hear Relena roll her eyes, much the same way his teenage daughter had just done. "I wouldn't be asking you, Heero, if there was any other way for me to do it instead. Believe me, I would."

He waited patiently as she took a deep breath and began her request, something she'd clearly been practicing to say to him. "As you already know, I've been working extensively on this proposal with Representative Perkins for the Mars project, because we need it done by this weekend for her to present it to the Senate to be approved."

Heero nodded to himself as she paused again, the next sentence apparently hard for her to get out.

"Ms. Perkins has fallen ill and they have requested that I go in her stead in order to give the proposal as well as help push for it's approval. They think it might actually be better if I went anyways, seeing as how I still have some sort of influence over the Senate."

Heero's paranoia was starting to get the best of him. As much as he enjoyed hearing Relena's elaborate excuses to get him to do things, since they were always such a point of great entertainment, his fears were overpowering that amusement. "So, what is that you need to me to do? It's not your usual habit to ask me to take care of the kids for a few days for unexpected business trips."

She gave a small nervous laugh at his abruptness. "No, it usually isn't." There was a deep intake of breath before she finally got it out. "I had a previous engagement on Saturday with Rina that she doesn't know about at Dorothy's estate. An orientation for... Cotillion."

Heero frowned at the last word. "Cotillion?" he questioned, wondering why Relena was even considering something so archaic this late in her life. Not that it was unnecessarily unheard of for older married women to still have a debut in high society, but the more recent traditions called for younger girls to be debutantes.

It was that final thought that clicked everything into place. His eyes narrowed at this conclusion and he shook his head, even though he knew his wife couldn't see him. "No," he replied to her still unasked question. "She'll kill me."

Relena huffed at his words. "Heero, please, it's unlikely. She's not yet smart enough to plan a completely guiltless crime. She'd have to be in her twenties before she would be capable of getting away with it, and even then, she would already be over it."

"You underestimate Rina's anger. She's very much like you-" he cut himself off at her sharp intake of breath in offense, before smoothly changing his phrasing," _your_ brother. Holding a grudge is second nature to them. And that's assuming she won't care if she gets arrested. She could very well kill me and willingly submit to the punishment, knowing she got her revenge anyway."

"Do you really have to be so dramatic? It's just afternoon tea for a few hours and then you can come home."

"At the Winners' mansion with _Dorothy_ and other equally annoying women," he countered.

"Heero, some of these women are my friends and colleagues, or wives and daughters of those important people that I need to keep up appearances with in order to maintain the goodwill of our government and overall peace of the galaxy."

He was about to reply with another negative answer when he decided to change tactics, knowing that just telling her no would not be sufficient enough at this point, especially with her last volley of words. "I have to work on an important case this weekend."

It wasn't entirely a lie. While there wasn't anything specific to work on with this particular case, _any_ type of research was still technically working on it.

"Une has already approved delegating your tasks to the other members of your team, who are just as capable as getting that _important_ case done."

He didn't miss the sarcastic twist she emphasized "important" with and tried to quickly think of something else, slightly alarmed that Relena had already gone over his head to speak with his boss. "They'll need me to oversee everything."

"She has assured me that they will alert you to any important information they may come across during the weekend to which I wholeheartedly agreed that I would excuse you from this orientation should that situation occur."

Damn it, she had really thought this one through. His mind struggled to think of something, _anything_ , to get him out of this incredibly undesirable situation with his daughter.

But Relena was well armed in this battle. "Let's just cut to the chase, Heero. It's only _one_ day. And Commander Une has made it very clear that Duo is close to needing some supervision at work as he seems to be slipping up a bit more frequently. She's suggesting that he might also need a vacation, which means his many children would _also_ need some supervision."

Heero swallowed the lump in the back of his throat at the thought of the infamous Maxwell children and what Relena implied. He opened his mouth to fight back, but knew she had him cornered. Afternoon tea was at least much more _quiet_ than spending weeks with a Maxwell. And he certainly had more of a choice at the Winner mansion, since he knew the layout and its various hiding spots and could spend an hour or so there, then bail, unlike the Maxwell household where he would be trapped both physically and mentally.

He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, already hating himself for getting soft and losing his edge. He made a mental note to brush up on his political tactics and vocabulary so that he wouldn't be caught off guard again with her and at this stupid function. "What time?"

"Meet and greet is at eleven, high tea at noon, information about the event and it's expectations at one followed by a tour and quick bout of refreshments in time for any questions and answers."

Heero bit back a growl and closed his eyes in irritation. "You said it was just afternoon tea."

"I also said it was just 'supervising' the Maxwells."

This time the growl came out and he threw himself into his chair in defeat. "I'll see you tonight when you get home."

Her laugh annoyed him a bit for once in his life. "Oh, sweetheart, do you really think I'd be that dense to come home at this time? I have too much paperwork to get done for this proposal. I'll be staying overnight and be home in the morning. I will see you then and hopefully in a much better mood."

He shook his head in complete disbelief at his current predicament. "You really had this planned out, didn't you?"

"Would you believe that it was only a few hours ago that I received notification for this weekend? I really had to get the big guns out for this one."

He allowed himself a small smile, impressed that his wife was still able to get things done her way so many years later since he first met her. "I love you."

There was a hum of appreciation. "I know. I love you too. See you in the morning." There was a quick pause before she suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Whatever you do, don't say a word of this to her. I'll break the news to her tomorrow when she's out of school."

Heero breathed a sigh of relief at that statement and relaxed some more into his chair. At least she cared enough to drop the bomb on their teenage daughter. Clean up work was way easier than that task. "Thanks... Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Heero ended the call by pressing the red button on the phone and set it down beside him on the right armrest. He took a moment to relay the conversation in his head, trying to imagine the many ways this would affect his daughter and her unpredictable teenage moods. He really wasn't looking forward to Saturday.

With a sigh, he reached over to his recently neglected case files and went back to skimming over his notes, grateful for the distraction.

 _  
_xxxxxxooxooxxxxxx

Out in the hallway near the door and standing flat against the wall, Zerina was trying her best not to show her anger.

 _*Cotillion? Seriously?!*_

She turned her head at the sound of light steps coming down the stairs and watched as her younger brother came into view. He frowned, his deep blue eyes showing his confusion. "Zer, what are you-"

Zerina immediately shushed her brother by sticking a finger to her lips. She motioned with her left hand for him to go back the way he came as she quietly crept back from the doorway. As she stepped down the short hallway, she glanced back to make sure their father hadn't heard them and then crossed her arms in irritation. "Mom and dad are planning something horrible, Aleph."

She watched her brother's expression change through a range of emotions, first confusion, understanding, and then fear. "What is it?"

She took a deep breath and spit the word out venomously. "Cotillion."

Aleph was again bewildered, and then gave a small laugh as he realized what she meant. "Oh, _that."_ He raised a hand and patted his older sister on the back sympathetically, before heading down towards the living room on his way to the kitchen. "I was worried it involved me." There was a snicker as he disappeared from view before adding," Enjoy your bonding time with mom."

Zerina narrowed her eyes at her brother's exit and growled in frustration. If there was one thing she absolutely hated, it was being forced to dress up for frou frou fancy pants parties with a bunch of airhead girls and their stupid mothers who babbled on about nothing but the latest fashion trends, who was dating whom, and which people were beneath them.

She had more important things to do, like work on her recent pet project of restoring an older model car with her cousin Kent and longtime friend Samael. There was also the stupid speech about peacekeeping tactics or whatever that she had to at least get a rough draft in soon for her Young Diplomats group her mother had forced her into as punishment for fighting again at school.

Zerina was still angry about that. She had been defending herself when that stupid witch Eloise Centinaio dumped her frozen slushie down the front of her shirt and laughed in her face. She'd seen the blonde girl bully other girls, including Zerina's best friend Tetra Winner, and get away with it because her parents had donated a massive amount of money to the school. And it wasn't the first time she had done stuff specifically to Zerina for some still unknown reason.

But Relena was angry that her daughter didn't take the less violent approach of " _talking it out_ " and sought out the school's local chapter of the Young Diplomats, some random government sponsored youth group that the ESUN created in order to "grow, nurture, and teach today's youth to build a better future through stimulating discussions and bridge different views". Zerina's fate was sealed when the group's leader met with her mother and was thrilled to see that the daughter of the former Queen of the World would be volunteering.

At least her father had managed to convince Relena to end the punishment when school was let out for the summer. So, she only had another month of torture before she would be free.

But now it seemed her mother had managed to plan another form of suffering for her only daughter. And her father was actually willing to allow this to happen!

There had to be some way to get out of this. But how?

She tried to think of something as she wandered upstairs to her room and got ready for bed, setting her mystery book down on her dresser as she pulled out a dark purple pajama tank top and short set.

Her best bet was finding out a bit more information about the stupid event and then using that intel to formulate the best plan of action. Maybe Tetra could help her, seeing as how her mother was apparently someone deeply involved with the whole damned thing. She would _have_ to know of some way to get kicked out or disbarred or whatever it was that got one out of these types of things.

Satisfied with this small start, she nodded to herself and got into her bed, snuggling her black comforter. Her mother would regret this decision. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Cotillion**

* * *

The car ride in the family's black mid-size SUV to the Winner mansion was eerily quiet. Heero didn't mind it much, as it was rare to get a quiet moment lately, but he knew a lot of it was due to his dear daughter sulking, which meant it wouldn't last long.

The moment Relena had shared the news of entering her daughter into this season's batch of debutantes, Zerina had set her foot down in what was probably her biggest tantrum yet in her sixteen years of life, including the time when she was a toddler and had become enraged her favorite Uncle Zechs had told her he was moving back to Mars. Unlike that time, however, Relena didn't change her mind as her brother had done. In fact, she had made it very clear what her expectations were and refuse to cave in to her daughter's screaming.

So now his daughter was sitting in the front seat, her arms crossed over her light pink cocktail dress she was forced into wearing, her dark hair pulled back by a sparkly white headband, pearls adorning her neck, and the angriest look he'd ever seen on her face. Her bare feet were propped up on the dashboard in what he assumed was the best act of defiance she could come up with at the moment, her toenails painted a deep black to match her mood. He was slightly surprised to see that Relena had even managed to get Zerina to put a bit of makeup on, although it wouldn't be noticeable to someone who'd never met the diplomat's young daughter before.

All hope for a tranquil drive was smashed to pieces when Zerina opened her mouth to state in her most low toned voice," I hate you."

Heero bit back the urge to growl in annoyance and kept his eyes on the road. "I had no choice."

"She couldn't have threatened you with much," she shot back.

He raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at her sideways with his eyes. "You know as well as I do that your mother doesn't half ass anything."

Zerina snorted and glared out the front window. "You're such a coward."

He sighed and actually looked at her for that comment, despite her avoiding making eye contact. "Considering your recent behavior, I don't think you have much of a say here."

He watched as she bit her lower lip in irritation, proving his words were accurate enough to falter her mood. His eyes darted back to the road as he tried to focus on his driving. He enjoyed the momentary lapse in conversation before she started up again, this time trying to bargain with him instead.

"You know, we both aren't really into this. She doesn't have to know if we don't go." Her voice was almost hopeful with anticipation that he'd agree with her.

He let a small smile slip at the mere idea of defying his wife, but he shook his head. "You forget that Dorothy is running this thing. She'll be getting back to your mother on every detail of today's events, both good and bad."

Zerina grumbled at that, having indeed forgotten that small fact. "I don't even get why she's pushing for this so much. She didn't have to do Cotillion. Why am I being forced into this?"

"Your mother was busy doing other things when she was your age. Like avoiding another galactic war." He took note of the scenery, their vehicle getting closer to the street to turn down that would lead up to the massive Winner Estate.

As he slowed the car at a four way stop, he took the time to look Zerina in the face, making sure that she was actually looking back at him for the next thing he was about to say. "She didn't get to do a lot things that other kids her age did. She had to watch her father die in front of her, take up his position in government, fight OZ and the Romafeller Foundation, push for disarmament, protect the world from another war, and basically missed out on anything a normal teenage girl experiences."

He reached his right hand out and rested it on Zerina's crossed arms, looking at her tentatively. "Is it really that bad for you to tough this one out for her sake and just let her have this one thing?"

Zerina made a face at her father's words, not wanting to give in to the argument that she never did anything her mother wanted, because deep down inside, she knew this statement was true. Outside of punishments, Zerina was pretty much free to do as she pleased. Her parents had set the limits at not hurting anybody, not destroying anything, and no interference with her education.

She and her mother had very little in common and practically zero shared interests. Failed attempts at ballet, learning new languages, any sort of interest in politics, fighting with her _words_ instead of her hands; these were all things her mother had tried desperately to find some sort of bond with her only daughter, but nothing had so far stuck. It was almost pathetic to realize how much more like her father she and her younger brother truly were.

Zerina let out a big sigh and loosened her crossed arms slightly. "Why did you have to give in to her so easily?" she responded grumpily instead. She focused her eyes back outside the window as her father made the right turn down the narrow street towards the Winner Mansion and forced back the bit of anxiety that had risen in her chest as she realized just how much closer they were to their destination. She really wasn't looking forward to this. She just hoped that there wasn't anybody she already knew there besides Tetra. That would make things way easier. There were quite a lot of snobby girls at her school.

Heero was surprisingly smirking at her question and reached out to pat her shoulder gently. "I had the unfortunate choice of either dealing with you or your mother's anger." He slowed the vehicle to turn up the long driveway that lead to the front of the mansion. "You, my angel, will eventually be leaving to college in about two years." He stopped the car as one of the many valets Dorothy had strangely hired for this minor event stood in the middle of the driveway and made a stopping motion with his right hand towards them.

Heero put the car in park, taking advantage of the pause, and focused his eyes on his teenage daughter. "I, however, will be with your mother until, as our wedding vows morbidly stated, death do us part." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I think you can see why I made my decision."

Zerina allowed herself a small smile and rose up straighter into her seat, understanding but still not willing to relent her anger towards him. "You'll be questioning that decision over the next two years, Father, and wonder if maybe you were right in your choice."

Heero laughed as he lowered the driver's side window to speak with the worker who had stepped over towards them. "You wouldn't be a Peacecraft if you didn't make my life a living hell at least twice a week," he said lovingly.

He turned his attention to the younger man standing by and raised his eyebrows in question. "What's with the roadblock? Dorothy always lets us park in front of the mansion."

The younger red haired man seemed taken aback by the question, the many other guests not second guessing his job. "Mrs. Winner has requested that all potential debutantes park their vehicles around the back so as to avoid the front of the house due to a massive remodel going on. She would also prefer the valets to handle the task since she doesn't want a repeat of New Year's."

Heero's face fell and paled slightly at the mention of the last holiday party at the Winner home, and nodded stiffly as he unbuckled his seat belt to get out, trying to ignore his daughter's choked laughter as they exited the vehicle.

After handing off the keys to the red vested valet, he turned towards Zerina and pulled her close to him as they followed the marked path that lead to the back of the mansion.

"I don't know why you're laughing. That whole fiasco was _your_ fault," he muttered fiercely in her ear.

She smiled daintily at him as she patted his arm like he had done to her earlier in the car, though her gesture was more of a condescending nature. "Nobody got hurt, daddy. And Samael was also involved, if my memory serves correctly." Her smiled widened as she took in her father's narrowed eyes at the mention of the second oldest Maxwell child, his annoyance for the boy well known. " _He_ was also the driver. Tetra and I were merely trying to stop him"

Heero rolled his eyes and glanced around at the few other girls and their mothers who were walking along the path, hoping none of them were overhearing this horrible conversation. "By telling him to step on the gas and crash the car into the fountain?"

Zerina slowed her steps and bit her lower lip in consternation. "I already told you, I said for him to step on the gas _before_ we got close to the house. He didn't listen and..." she trailed off as her father stopped to raise his eyebrow at her, making it clear he didn't want her to continue. She sighed and looked down at her now heeled feet, mumbling," Sorry. I keep forgetting we have the nondisclosure agreement on that."

Heero took in his daughter's guilt ridden expression and softened quite a bit, as he always did when it came to her, and let out a breath of defeat. "All I ask is that you please make friends with someone other than the Maxwell boys."

She giggled at his worried tone and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "Well, next time don't raise me with the hell raisers if you don't want me to end up like them."

He let out a wistful sigh as they drew closer to the back of the mansion. "I didn't. That was your mother's decision to keep you kids together."

They shared a small laugh as they reached their destination, the large stone steps that lead up to the huge doorway of what Zerina remembered as the East wing of the mansion. The lady of the house was standing by, her signature smirk gracing her features as she greeted the women and future debutantes walking through.

When her eyes landed on the father daughter pair ascending the steps towards her, the smirk turned into a genuine smile. "Ah, if it isn't the illustrious Mr. Yuy and the young Eva Peacecraft. How wonderful it is to see you two here together."

Zerina greeted her aunt with an equally large smile, noticing her father didn't do the same. "Always a pleasure, Aunt Dorothy," she said with an exaggerated grandness in her voice and a twirl of the hand.

The smirk returned to the older blonde's face and she reached out to hug one of her dearest nieces. "Suck it up, young lady and deal with it," she uttered in Zerina's ear and the young girl giggled. As she straightened her posture, she stole a glance at Heero and rolled her eyes at his obvious displeasure. She motioned inside down the hallway. "The meet and greet will be in the small ballroom. I trust that you two still know the way." She raised her eyebrows to Zerina, adding pointedly, "Tetra is already in there, handing out name tags."

Zerina nodded her acknowledgment and inwardly shook her head, sympathetic towards her best friend's plight, the menial job clearly some sort of punishment, and started down the hallway without her father.

Dorothy turned towards Heero and wrapped him into a light embrace, his arms actually coming up in polite response. "You really will do just about anything for her, won't you?"

Heero snorted at the question as he pulled back and looked to his wife's longest friend. "She's almost six months pregnant. You act as if I had any choice."

Dorothy laughed softly at his response and stepped to the side to give him room to pass through. "Oh, well as long as you're aware..."

Heero simply smirked in response and continued on his way, glancing down to see how far his daughter had gotten from him. * _Just a couple of hours and then we're out of here.*_

 **oxXXxo**

"Tetra!" Zerina practically threw herself into her best friend's arms, easily ignoring the dirty looks from the nearby women that her loud high-pitched shriek elicited.

Tetra Winner, dressed in a similar style dress as Zerina's, but in a dark forest green shade, turned at the sound of her name and smiled widely when she recognized her friend and returned the hug with equal fervor. "Oh, god, Z, where have you been? I'm dying here!"

Zerina pulled back slightly and took a moment to glance around the small ballroom at the other mothers and daughters assembled around, already grouping themselves into little cliques. "You would not believe the argument my mother and I had over the vid phone. She insisted I wear this stupid pink dress, instead of the black one I picked out." She put her hands up, making quotation marks with her fingers on both hands as she mimicked Relena's soft yet stern voice. "Black is for evening wear, darling, and formal events." She stepped back and rested her head on the shorter girls bare shoulder. "I hate this so much."

Tetra hummed her support and patted her friend on the head softly. "At least you have me here to go through it with you."

Zerina nodded in agreement and looked to the stack of name badge stickers her friend held in her white gloved hands. "What, no plastic pin tags this time? Your mother doesn't usually cut back like this," she asked in confusion as she pulled part of the pile away from her.

Tetra gave a slight smirk, but also rolled her eyes at the question. "Daddy put her on a budget this time. With the front getting redone and this whole thing apparently being some extra special event, he really put his foot down. I was surprised she gave in so easily. She must have owed him big time for something."

"I'll say," Zerina agreed as she straightened up, flipping through the stack as she searched for her or her father's name. "What's with the front remodel anyway? The fountain wasn't that damaged." She had deliberately chosen to ignore the comment about the event being "extra special" as she figured it had to do with the added participation of the two former pilots daughters and nothing more. She was also happy to note that she didn't recognize any of the names she came across in the stack so far.

There was a look of annoyance on her best friend's face as she gave a small growl of disapproval. "You know my mom. Once the fountain was repaired, the rest of the house didn't match. She really went all out on it too. My dad said she couldn't have a new house _and_ a big party at the same time. So she chose to put the majority of the money into the remodel." She watched the next few guests wander in, not offering to hand them the proper identification, choosing to parlay her duties in exchange for much needed talk time with her only friend. "She's been sticking to it so far, so I guess that's good."

Zerina nodded at that as she traded the stack in her hand for the one in Tetra's, not finding her name yet. "I gotta say, your mother can be quite devious when she wants to be." Her lips twitched into a half smirk on her face as she slowly leafed through the sticker name tags. "It's one of the things I admire most about her, actually."

Tetra frowned at that and turned her head to look at Zerina on her left. "What do you mean?"

Zerina looked up from her hands and stared at Tetra in minor confusion. "What do you mean what do I mean?"

Tetra stared at her, her aquamarine eyes holding an edge of worry. "Why'd you say my mother was being devious?"

Zerina was moderately surprised her dearest friend hadn't caught what was going on and gave a small laugh at her reaction. While she was the product of two of the most arguably greatest strategic minds in the universe, Tetra Winner had only inherited her mother's sharp wit and beauty, while taking after Quatre greatly, right down to his gentle, but somewhat naive nature. It was this automatic positivity and kindness that had endeared the older blonde to Zerina so much.

Zerina let out a soft sigh and smiled lightly at Tetra. "Renovation projects tend to exceed their budgets. Something _always_ comes up. She can very easily say that a contract changed, or an item they wanted is no longer available and will need more funds. But knowing your dad's lack of interest in fixing basic home structures, he's not going to take the time to go over it with her and will let her handle it. And your mom wins both ways as she'll get the renovation plus the extra money she wanted to begin with."

Zerina watched her as friends expression changed through a series of emotions, ranging from minor disbelief to anger, slight sadness, and then reluctant acceptance.

Tetra closed her eyes and shook her head, going over this revelation over and over in her mind, She finally opened her eyes to stare at Zerina in irritation. "Of course _you_ would figure that out. Great evil minds think alike, after all."

Zerina feigned offense and placed a hand over her chest in mock pain. "Why, Tetra Winner, I think that knife hurt more going through the front than it would have going in my back!"

They giggled together for a few minutes, before remembering where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. With breaths of defeat, they glanced back at their hands and went back to rifling through the name tags.

"So, why are you on sticker duty, T?" Zerina asked, not looking up from her pile. "Forget to clean your room again?"

Tetra gave an unladylike snort. "Ha! If only!" She paused as a very familiar looking pair entered the ballroom from the secondary set of doors towards the back. "I told her that I didn't need to learn social skills and stupid dances, because I already have friends I can trust and rely on, and none of that even matters when I'm in a research lab by myself focusing on trying to find cures for diseases."

Zerina stopped when she found her fathers name tag and lifted it up out of the pile. "Sounds reasonable. But I'm guessing this punishment was to teach you how to speak to new people anyways?" She grimaced when she saw her real name, Eva, listed on the sticker tag beneath her dad's.

Unlike her own parents who had resigned themselves to addressing Zerina by her middle name after years of fighting, her aunt Dorothy was one of the few people in her life who insisted on calling her by her given first name,. It was only when she was in deep trouble that anybody ever called her Eva.

She pursed her lips and pulled up the sticker from the backing, slapping it over her left breast onto the stiff pink chiffon rouching and beading. Her eyes slid over to the right at Tetra, realizing she hadn't answered her question and frowned when she noticed her staring at something off in the distance. "T...?"

Tetra gasped suddenly and turned to Zerina wild eyed, grasping her by the shoulders in a firm grip. "Z, you're not going to believe who just walked in."

Zerina, who just so happened to see the next name in the sticker pile, had already realized the reason for her friend's distress. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Their eyes fell onto the mother daughter pair who were slowly making their way around the ballroom, the older dark blonde woman in a sleek _black_ knee length dress, giving kisses on the cheeks of the other guests, the younger girl, her face a mirror image of her mothers, in a simple deep red dress that flared out at her hips in feather like ruffles, jeweled beading encircling her waist. The look on her face, unlike her mother's, held a sense of superiority, her deep green eyes showing her disdain for the other women near her.

"Eloise," Zerina heard her friend murmur fearfully. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Zerina stared numbly as her nemesis continued making the rounds with her mother, completely unaware of the stares she was receiving from the Peacecraft and Winner girls. "Why would your mother even invite her?" she whispered back fiercely.

Tetra had slowly regained her senses and shook her head, taking the name tags from Zerina's grasp. "Knowing my mother, it's for monetary reasons as well as just to see what would happen with you two in the same room. She always did enjoy a good sparring match." She gave her friend a little nudge with her elbow, trying to wake her from her stupor. "You said it yourself, she's devious. I wouldn't be surprised if she already placed bets with Uncle Duo to see who would win." At Zerina's raised eyebrows, Tetra gave a small laugh. "Oh, please, you know she would bet on you every time. She just enjoys the show that leads up to it."

Zerina's eyes narrowed as the pair met up with Dorothy. "I can't believe my mom didn't tell me."

Tetra gave a small toss of her shoulders. "She probably didn't want you to have a good reason to quit, since you were already fighting with her about it." She smiled at Zerina, her hopeless optimism shining through her aqua eyes. "That is, assuming, she even knew. I can safely say that my mom most likely withheld that information from your mother since, as we already established, she enjoys the show that ensues from these types of situations." She ignored Zerina's annoyed stare and chose to glance back to her mother, who was now leading her bully and her mother towards...

"Why is she taking them to your dad?" she asked loudly, her voice ringing in alarm.

"Because your mother is the devil, T, " Zerina answered, her eyes narrowing further as Eloise's mother seemed to linger on her cheek kisses this time towards her father, and going so far as to hug Heero and grasp his hands with hers.

Eloise seemed just as disgusted with this display as Zerina and had wandered back to one of the younger girls she had greeted earlier.

Tetra was making a face and lifted one of her gloved hands in confusion to motion at the adults, a sincere smile on Heero's face. That man hardly ever did that. "Why the hell is she hanging all over your dad? I mean, women always do that, which is so weird by the way, but he's not even stopping her!"

Zerina thought back to her pregnant mother, and her parents usual acts of affection towards one another, something that only she and her brother were unfortunately privy to, and shook her head. "No," she said confidently. "He's just being polite..." Her brow furrowed at her father's behavior. "But I think he knows her. Very well in fact."

Tetra stared at her in shock. "Did he go to the Academy for the fight? I thought your mom handled that, cuz he was off at work for a few weeks."

Zerina shook her head at the question. "He never talked to El's mom about that."

The two continued to gawk at the adults, before Dorothy stepped away, leaving Heero alone with Eloise's mother. She had finally relinquished his hands, but had settled instead for leaning closer to him, the two sharing a laugh. Zerina's hatred for the day had suddenly grew exponentially, and she couldn't stop her hands from clenching into fists.

Why _was_ her father acting so chummy with her arch enemy's mother? She clearly wasn't a Preventer, as her incredibly thin and delicate looking body showed. And her father never spoke to the secretaries, more from a lack of any need for interaction, since he was usually just called in personally by Ms. Une, Duo, or Master Chang,

Before she could say anything more to Tetra, or approach her father, they were interrupted by the sound of a microphone turning on and Mrs. Winner's high, yet demanding voice instructing the guests to gather round. Zerina made a face and looped her arm within Tetra's as they slowly walked to the front, making a mental note to confront her dad later on the matter. Now, however, she had to focus on her main task: finding a way to get out of cotillion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Cotillion**

 **A/N:**

To anybody who may be reading this, I apologize for the significant delay. I meant to update this once a week, but having a daughter in a Pageant as well as night classes seemed to take up more of my time than expected. Hopefully it was worth the wait. :)

* * *

Zerina jumped a little in her hard seat as she felt her father's pointer finger shove into her side again, snapping her drifting eyelids open immediately. She bit back the yelp of pain and glared at him for interrupting her ride to dreamland, the hour long list of expectations for the selected Debutantes draining her of her youthful energy,

When Heero narrowed his eyes at her in warning, her glared darkened and she stole a glance to Tetra, who was sitting to the left of her at the small round table. Her scowl quickly disappeared and her lips curled up in amusement as she saw her friend struggling to stay awake as well, her relation to the speaker apparently not granting her any immunity from the boring rambling.

She sighed and casually looked around at the other girls in the room, taking note of the groupings for future reference on who to avoid. Her eyes paused at the table centered towards the front, Eloise and her mother surrounded by some other important looking people. Not only were they noticeably dressed in far more expensive clothing than the rest of the other upper class women, but there was also an air of aristocracy about them, much like the way her uncle, mother, aunt Dorothy, Uncle Quatre,and cousin Mariemaia carried themselves.

It was at this time her enemy finally felt Zerina's eyes on her, and she turned in her seat to glance back at who was staring. Her bright green eyes widened for a moment as they locked onto Zerina's crystal blue gaze, the two staring at each other unwavering, before Eloise perceptibly scoffed and turned back to the front with a toss of her dark blonde hair over her shoulder.

Zerina held back the growl of irritation at this display and turned her eyes to the stapled papers on top of the heavily starched white tablecloth before her. She skimmed over the bullet pointed notes, passing through ten pages, trying to find the spot that Dorothy was currently reading to see how much more they had left to go through.

"... And, as we all know, this is the Fiftieth Annual Cotillion ball to be presented by the Winner family and Associates. As such, we are going to do things a bit differently this time around in celebration of this significant milestone. This is why we will be hosting twenty-five debs this year, instead of the usual fifteen. The Cotillion will be held inside this very mansion's grand ballroom to accommodate the larger gathering that such a big group will entail. Each debutante will still be allowed her designated twenty guests. Upon approval, that is. "

Dorothy paused to glance at her notes, before continuing, her voice changing slightly to that of a guarded nature as the next part was apparently something of dismaying news. "This now leads me to the next point on our agenda, which is the dress requirements. We will be straying slightly from our usual white ball gowns this year."

Zerina rolled her eyes when most of the girls and their mothers gasped collectively. She raised her eyebrows up to her dad who had his usual impassive expression, but she was able to see the slight irritation in his deep blue eyes, the recent group reactions irritating him as well.

"In honor of the fiftieth year, we will be requiring the girls to either wear a gold floor length gown of their choosing, or the custom made gown we've had commissioned for this very event by a special guest designer." Dorothy gave a small motion to someone who was waiting off to the side of the makeshift stage and smiled warmly at the gathered women.

A strawberry blonde girl about the age of nineteen appeared on stage next to Dorothy, walking around slowly as she showed off a white ballgown with intricate gold detailing along the bodice and throughout the many tulle skirts.

"Our lovely Jerica is modeling this gown for you all to see. The dress is a mere fifteen hundred dollars, with all proceeds going straight to the designer's favorite charity. But let it be known now that you only have three weeks to get your order in, as we have very limited time to prepare. These are custom dresses, ladies, and in order to ensure proper fit and construction, the designer needs as much time as possible to make them."

There were murmured sounds of admiration from the gathering of women as the model strutted around, twirling the skirts of the white and gold gown. Zerina tried not to gag at the oohing and ahhing that was coming from the other people the next table over and casually looked down to her left hand where she pulled out her cell phone to sneak a peek at the time.

Aside from the white numbers displaying the current time of two twelve, she noticed a message from Samael Maxwell. She glanced back to her dad, who, despite his arms being crossed and what looked to be mild interest on his face, was actually in another world. She'd seen this particular countenance before and knew that he was currently thinking about one of three things; her mother, his gundam, or both and how they all came together so many years ago.

The right side of her lips curled up in a smirk as she took the chance to read and maybe message back Samael.

 _ **Where are you? Missing you in the garage.**_

Her smile widened a bit at the thought of him being stuck working with her cousin on the car. If there was one Peacecraft trait in her, it was that her presence kept the two older teens from fighting with each other. The last time she wasn't there, wrenches were thrown, and more work was added to the already large list of repairs that were needed on the car, not to mention the garage itself.

She tried not to laugh when she heard what sounded like light snoring from Tetra as she quickly wrote back:

 _ **You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Call you later.**_

She glanced up to see what was happening, but Dorothy was still droning on and everybody else seemed to be paying way more attention than she was. There was a slight vibration from her phone, signaling a new message.

 _ **Aw, man. You went to a strip club without me?**_

When her eyes landed on the message, she tried not to gasp in shock at what he wrote, and tried to formulate a witty response. But before her fingers could activate the onscreen keyboard, a much larger hand wrapped around hers, effectively pulling the phone away from her. She glanced up in surprise to find her father's dark blue eyes looking at her sternly with a hint of disappointment.

She glanced downward and pouted, wishing the day would just be over already. When she heard Dorothy mention the word "escorts", her ears perked up, unsure what the older woman was talking about. She cursed Samael for placing dirty thoughts in her head.

"Our escorts for our young ladies will be done differently this year also. The ladies will not be able to bring a person of their choosing. Instead, they will be partnered with a young man from a group that the Trustees and I have agreed upon. These young men were specifically chosen for this event and will be taking additional classes alongside what we're teaching our young ladies to further groom their social skills and abilities on how to treat a lady. Unlike in the past where everybody becomes acquainted and takes turns with each partner, every gentleman will be assigned one partner throughout the whole process. This ensures a deeper connection and trust which will lead to a much more cohesive unit when we present our debutantes for their dances that night, most especially the first dance, the traditional waltz."

Zerina couldn't hold back the moan at that information, fearing the moment when she would have to meet with some snobby dirt bag and be forced to be polite and _dance_ with him for the majority of the Cotillion. And she couldn't grasp the concept that these boys were handpicked. What made them so special?

There was a slight gasp from her left and Zerina turned her head to see Tetra wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand, embarrassed at having fallen asleep. The light blonde leaned over to whisper to Zerina, her eyes still not fully opened. "What did I miss?" she asked quickly.

Zerina gave a small shrug. "Stupid dresses, stupid people, stupid boys," she whispered back lowly.

Tetra frowned a little but let it go. The details would be given to her again at some point during the process, so she wasn't too concerned with missing her mother's current discussion. She leaned over a little to look at Mr. Yuy, who had the same weird look on his face that her own father got sometimes whenever someone mentioned the Maganacs, Sandrock, or her mother's love for fencing.

She turned her green-blue eyes to Zerina in question, but Zerina just gave another shrug. She sighed out of boredom and rested her head on her best friend's shoulder, the two girls praying for the end to come soon.

 ** _oxXXxo_**

"If you turn your attention to the left, you'll see the botanical gardens that house the award winning Rose Pavilion and three world famous hedge mazes." The man leading the tour, who Zerina recognized as the longtime head butler, motioned around with his right hand for the many females to see what he was speaking of.

Zerina smirked a little as she overheard questions about how complicated the hedge mazes must be, and looked to Tetra knowingly. One advantage of being so close to the Winner family was the infinite playgrounds she and all the other pilots' children got to explore, which included these very mazes. They had all gotten lost at one point or another when they were very young, and in the end each child knew the mazes like their own bedrooms.

As the group was lead further down the dirt pathway to head back to the rear of the Winner Estate, Zerina deliberately slowed her steps, watching as Tetra got a small distance away from her, before turning to her father on her right, his need to keep his entire family right where he could see them having him exactly three paces behind her. She gave him her customary smirk and leaned over towards him as he looked to her with an eyebrow raised, already expecting her question.

"You seemed awfully friendly with Eloise's mom, father," she stated simply, instead of posing it as a question. She knew inquiring would lead to his usual dance around the answer. While Heero Yuy was known to be direct and to the point, he had the tendency to not give full answers when he wanted to, especially when it came to his children and the former Deathscythe pilot.

In this case, he actually looked confused at what she saying, curious at her implications. "Mrs. Centinaio?" he asked, his eyebrows knitted together in thought as he stared at her.

Zerina slowed her steps even further, the debutante group now quite a good distance away from them. She huffed a little and narrowed her eyes at him, certain he was playing dumb on purpose. "How do you know her, dad? She's obviously not a work related associate, and you hate going to mom's political functions."

Heero couldn't hold back the frown at the sudden inquisition, pausing in his steps as he tried to think of a proper response. While he and Relena were mostly open about their pasts with their children, there was still quite a bit they left out of the many stories, mainly the countless deaths at his hand, how Zechs had almost destroyed the world, and his own tendencies to self destruct. Some things were just too heavy to carry over to his still young kids.

Zerina took his hesitation as him avoiding the question and threw up her arms in frustration. "Seriously? You guys are going to keep more secrets from me?"

Heero chose to ignore the last part of her ranting, filing the question of what secrets she could possibly be talking about for a later discussion with his wife, and crossed his arms as he waited patiently for his daughter to calm down for a moment.

When she stopped a few feet away and turned her eyes on him expectantly in the way that made her look too much like her uncle, Heero let out a sigh and heaved his shoulders in resignation.

"Sylvia and I are just old friends. Since the war. Your mother is well aware of this and has absolutely no qualms about it." At her raised eyebrows, he pointed a finger at her in warning. "As she should be, since there's nothing going on."

Zerina took this in for a few minutes, her light blue eyes never leaving his darker ones, until she came up with the same question, punctuating each word slowly for him. "How do you know her?"

Heero tried to not get frustrated with her constant queries. "Didn't you already ask that?"

Her crystal blue eyes flashed at him. "You didn't answer. You said you knew her, but you didn't say _how_." At his continued silence she pressed further. "In all of your war stories, you two never mentioned her. I want to know where she fits in. Why it's always such a big deal when Eloise and I don't get along."

Zerina kept her focus on her father's eyes, fighting back the urge to withdraw when she saw something flicker momentarily in them. He was definitely holding back something from her! She took a tentative step forward, a million things rushing through her mind at what that could possibly be. "Did you really know her from the war?"

Heero closed his eyes and turned his head away, taking in a deep breath and letting it out ever so slowly. There was a long pause where Zerina debated confronting him on what she could only gather as an admission as lying based on his reaction to her question.

"I think we should go somewhere more private," he finally answered, turning his gaze intently to the botanical gardens, loosely placing a hand on his right hip.

She nodded in agreement and let him lead the way to where he felt comfortable talking. The silence was tense, and she tried to hold back on second guessing herself on asking, knowing full well that she was being kept in the dark on a few things with her parents.

She'd heard stories from the other children of the pilots. Some were the usual ones they'd all heard, the ones that were told in their history classes, but with more detail and even some deviations. Others were dark and scary, but to the extent of which they were brushed over and never in full detail.

Aeron, Samael's older brother, had once mentioned something about her Aunt Hilde almost dying as she tried to get a map of Libra to the pilots. There were even some strange slip ups when her father, Uncle Duo, and Uncle Zechs would get into drunken arguments and spout random insults at each other.

But there was always something being kept back, something of major significance that all of the former pilots and respective spouses held in for whatever reasons. Each of the older children had figured some things out, either by chance, or deep snooping.

Dreia, Trowa's only child, had discovered when she was thirteen that her mother was a spy as a child and had even gone so far as betraying her father, also a young child, and killing the mercenary group he was with at the time.

Wufei's twins, Quinn and Quan, were appalled to find out their father had joined the Mariemaia Army.

Tetra had once overheard a conversation between her aunts that her mother had stabbed her father with a sword in the midst of a battle.

Samael and Aeron were open books about their dad's exploits, much like their father, but there were still some things the former Deathscythe pilot had held back from his children. All the two boys had ever figured out was through Duo's nightmares where he would wake up screaming about someone named Solo, or Helen.

Her cousins McKenna and Kent were almost certain their dad had been the infamous Lighting Count from the wars, but hadn't wanted to believe their dad was the reason the earth was almost obliterated.

But Heero... He had managed to keep everything locked away and somehow enlisted her mother into keeping any sort of information away from her and Aleph. It was like her father had never existed until the year he had joined her mother's security team. Zerina could see it, though, in their eyes, like when she would ask how her parents met, or questioned why her Uncle Milliardo didn't like her dad. There was more that they were refusing to share for some reason or another.

Zerina knitted her brows in confusion as she realized her dad had lead her towards one of the mazes, the one called "Labyrinth". This particular maze was designed in a classic square pattern, with the difficulty being moderate, though it wasn't exactly hard for the pilots and their children.

She bit her lip nervously as her dad stepped into the hedge maze and followed him, wondering why he was taking her inside. She knew he wanted privacy, but this was pretty much overkill. The debutante group was well enough ahead to probably be back inside the mansion at this point, and there wasn't any of the usual hired hands around in the gardens, Dorothy's desire to keep them out of sight of visiting eyes ensuring that.

She and her father made a couple right turns, before eventually making a left. She could tell by his movements that they were heading for the quick route towards the center of the maze, which caused her nervousness to grow. What was it that he had to say that needed this level of secrecy?

The long nerve wracking silence wasn't helping her anxious feelings either. Her father hadn't even checked to see if she was close by as he walked through the maze, which was a strange action in itself. It was almost like he was avoiding her.

After a few more minutes of stepping quietly on the dirt path, she heard the dripping sounds of the large stone fountain that signaled they were close to the center. She followed her dad for a few more steps before they reached the long part of the hedge that was separated from the rest of the maze and had some red flowers crawling along it. They took a right and stepped around to observe the peaceful oasis that was the center of the maze.

Mrs. Winner was known for her elaborate style and expensive taste, her immaculate wealth coupled with her husband's fortune affording the small family multiple uniquely designed homesteads and places of business. The exterior famous gardens of the Earth's Winner Mansion was no exception, and each one was built with self-sustaining modern technology along with various themed furniture and outdoor items to decorate the mazes.

In the case of Labyrinth, Dorothy went with more of an ancient Greek feel, the classic marble statues and stoneware littering the numerous alcoves and hidden walkways of the large maze. The center boasted not just the one main fountain, but two others situated toward the only other openings. To the right was the small cherub covered fountain, water dripping from one tier down to the bottom where it was collected in a small pool that lead over to another stream which connected it to the second fountain on the left. This one was slightly bigger, being three tiers, and decorated with what Zerina remembered as the seven muses, four holding up the second bowl and three other muses who then held the final scalloped bowl.

The third, and much larger fountain was squarish in shape and was carved to show the main pantheon of Greek gods. Being that it was placed in front of what would be the exit pathway, and was one of the first things one would encounter upon entering the maze, besides the massive oak tree in the center that provided shade from the sun and coverage from the rain, it was double sided, the male gods on one side, the females on the other.

Zerina had always wondered if it was Dorothy's fierce and strong nature that had deliberately placed the females gods on the side one would see first upon entering the center, the stern faces of Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Artemis a sort of passive aggressive act of defiance to her guests.

At the moment, though, they seemed less intimidating than her father, whose continued silence had begun to weigh upon her quite heavily. She watched him as he strode over to one of the stone benches that surrounded the base of the large tree in the center and sat down on it, patting the spot next to him. She joined her father and sat down slowly, fluffing out her dress underneath her legs as she did so. She turned her eyes to him expectantly, wondering what exactly this talk was going to be about.

He looked at her carefully for a few more moments, still hesitant in his decision, before diving in, knowing there was no turning back now at this point. "You already know I was a gundam pilot," he started slowly. "And that I piloted the one called Wing."

Zerina nodded, her expression neutral, and waited for him to continue.

He pressed his hands flat together in his lap, an almost nervous gesture, which was disconcerting in itself. Her father _never_ showed any emotion of this nature. "So, I can trust that you're smart enough to know what that means in regards to the ramifications of having been a pilot of one of the most deadly mobile suits that both the Earth and Colonies have seen."

She frowned a little, slightly guessing the underlying meaning, but unsure where he was going with this line of thought. She gave another nod and gestured with her hand for him to go on.

Heero caught this signal and took in a deep breath, before letting it out slow and deliberate. "I haven't really hid the fact that I've killed countless people from you, but I _have_ intentionally left out the details, because you were too young, or, in some cases, there were just so many that I couldn't remember them all."

Zerina couldn't help herself from gasping at that slight admission. She knew war wasn't pretty, had been aware of the casualties from both the Eve's War and the Mariemaia Uprising, and had already figured her dad was responsible for a good amount of those deaths. But now it seemed he was implying a much larger number than she had initially thought. Which was silly for her to even imagine as small, considering that he _was_ one of the five famous gundam pilots. But it was strange to envision her very loving, caring father as someone so deadly.

She felt herself freeze up a little, uncertain what to even respond with, or at least apologize for her reaction.

Heero didn't seem to mind and stared off at the fountain of the Greek Gods, watching the water trickle down from one basin to the next. "I'm not going to explain all of the incidences to you right now. There's just too many. But I think it's time I share a small bit with you." He shifted his posture, his back lower as he slouched forward, resting his elbows in his lap.

"I was about fourteen when I was sent out to a colony to destroy a base that housed many mobile suits for the Alliance. A very easy task, something I'd done before with little trouble. I just rigged the suits with bombs and detonated them when I was a safe distance away."

Heero paused, a faraway look in his eyes as the memory washed over him. The feel of the cool breeze on his face as he laid on the soft grass, the warmth of the artificial sun, the contrast of the loud bark from Mary the puppy and the soft light voice of that little girl...

He blinked in surprise as he felt a hand touch his, bringing him back to the present. He looked up to see Zerina give a small reassuring smile to urge him to continue, looking so much like her mother in that moment.

He tried to smile back to show that he was okay, but he just couldn't do it, the memory still too painful. His eyes drifted downward as he started again. "This particular time, though, didn't end well. One of the suits had fallen backwards against the others, from the force of the explosion, I assume. It was a domino effect and each one kept falling one by one, until they hit the housing complexes that were nearby. They were completely destroyed. All of those people were asleep in their beds..." He took a deep shuddering breath. "I had met a little girl earlier that day who was walking her puppy. She had befriended me and given me a flower and... All I could find later was the dog, covered in ashes and clearly dead..." He felt the tiny pricks in his eyes of tears that still forced their way out whenever he reflected on this particular memory.

Zerina's eyes were wide and she had a hand to her mouth in a weak attempt to cover her shock. She was suddenly aware of how loud the rushing water in the fountains seemed. Even the twittering of the birds in the trees were too noisy. She didn't know what to say, or if she even _should_ say anything, but thankfully, her father began talking again.

"I'm only telling you this, so that you can understand the story of how I know Mrs. Centinaio." He tore his eyes away and studied his daughter's expression, disappointed in the dazed and somewhat fearful reaction that was there, because he was the one responsible for it. He had wanted so badly to not destroy some semblance of normalcy for her, but it appeared his past was going to catch up with him no matter what.

He shifted in his spot on the cool stone bench and looked up to the sky, watching the drifting clouds pass over. "My emotional reaction was grounds for my..." he struggled to find the right word to explain Dr. J," _trainer_ , and many of the higher ups, to go back and 'fix' me. I was not supposed to feel anything for the people I kill, nor feel guilty for the missions I was assigned."

His eyes drifted downward back to the fountain, and he was aware that Zerina was completely stiff in her spot, looking terribly uncomfortable. Whether her discomfort was from the hard stone seat she was on, or his words, he couldn't really tell, but he went on with his story anyways.

"The very short version of what happened was that we Gundam pilots were lead to believe that the leaders of OZ and other elite figures in charge were on a shuttle attempting to flee. I was the closest to it and and I quickly disposed of it. It wasn't until later that we found out that we had been tricked, simple pawns used to kill many ambassadors and other political officials who were against the war. These people had been doing everything in their power to prevent any more fighting."

Heero finally took this moment to look his daughter in the eyes, locking his prussian blues on her crystal light ones. "One of those people was Field Marshall Noventa, Sylvia Centinaio _Noventa_ 's grandfather."

Zerina took this information in slowly, her eyebrows shooting up in mild surprise. _Daddy killed Eloise's great grandfather?_ Some of the puzzle pieces were beginning to click into place. Except...

"So, how did you actually meet Sylvia, dad?" she asked again, this time softly.

Heero let out a long sigh and glanced downwards remorsefully. "This is the hardest part of the story, sweetheart... The accident from before, my intense training and forced need to suppress my emotions... The incredible guilt at killing the only people who could have prevented me from participating in some of the most deadly battles of my life... I felt that I no longer deserved to live."

It was strangely uplifting to finally admit this out loud and to his daughter even. But there was still more. "I went to each family member of the people who were on board the shuttle, begging them to avenge those deaths by killing me. Sylvia was one of these people and after an intense conversation... she had decided not to do it." His eyes turned back to Zerina. "She spared my life, calling me a coward."

Zerina was quiet, slowly mulling it over as Heero studied her face. After a minute or so, Zerina wrapped her arms around her dad, her emotions getting the best of her at her father's story, and she hugged him with all her might.

Heero tried to hold back his surprise at his daughter's sudden action, and turned in his seat to hold her better and hug back.

"I don't care... What happened in the past is in the past, daddy. I mean," she paused as she struggled to find the right words. "It doesn't matter to me that what you did before is perceived as horrible, because those mistakes, those accidents and even the deliberate choices you made, is what made you who you are today. And you're the best father in the world, and mom likes you a lot, so that has to mean something, right?" She gave a tentative smile, knowing her verbal choices weren't too spectacular, and hoping her father understood her anyways.

Heero was still staring at her in a bit of a stupor from her completely different than expected reaction. He and Relena never believed that their children would take any specific information from their pasts so easily and calmly. He expected tears, screaming, maybe some minor punching, _anything,_ even an emancipation request. And he wouldn't blame them. But now...

Eventually, a slight smirk touched his face for a second, before disappearing just as quickly as he leaned forward and embraced his little girl, words not enough to explain his relief and gratitude for her completely unbiased and strangely _loving_ approach to his revelations. He would have to kiss Relena and embrace her in a similar way when she came home, and thank her for giving him children who shared so much of her forgiving nature. For now, though, he would appreciate and relish the rare peaceful moment with his daughter, grateful for this change and how gently it came.


	4. Chapter 4

**Cotillion**

"Ah, so there's our favorite dark princess finally gracing us with her presence!" Samael Maxwell's deep voice boomed as Zerina stepped into the large well lit garage.

Zerina barely acknowledged him as she quietly stepped past him towards the navy blue lockers in the corner, turning her head just enough to give him one of her darkest glares that clearly stated she didn't want to hear anything further from him.

Being a Maxwell, though, meant he didn't exactly care to stop talking, especially when it was a Yuy involved. He chuckled to himself as she flung the door open on her locker and searched for her work clothes, the metal door slamming loudly enough to echo in the garage. "I see she's in her usual mood, Kenny," he stated happily, his cobalt eyes sliding over across the car to Zerina's older cousin.

The platinum blonde laughed at the comment until Zerina's eyes turned on him in anger. He immediately stopped, placing his hands up in the air in mock surrender as she turned back to putting on her mechanic's jumpsuit. "Whoa, there, don't take it out on me! I wasn't the one who put you in Cotillion."

That finally caused her to respond, her angered growl coming out long as she stomped past them again towards the tools that were set up by the entrance. "I _don't_ want to talk about it."

The older teens simply smirked at each other as they watched her take her time choosing a tool. When it appeared she couldn't find what she was looking for, she stomped to the right where there were more tools sitting on a cart.

"Cotillion, huh? That explains why Dorothy was going nutso on my dad the other day about the fountain," Samael murmured to himself, running a hand through his dark hair.

Kent looked over to Samael in surprise. "She's still mad about that? I thought they fixed the stupid thing."

Zerina rolled her eyes as they continued discussing the infamous fountain incident and finally found the flashlight she was looking for. She took in a deep calming breath as she walked over to the car and pushed by Kent, letting the air out slowly before sliding on her back underneath it to inspect what her cousin had done the last time he was in the garage.

"Come on Zer, it can't be that bad," Kent's voice called out to her, the boys discussion having apparently ended.

She chose to ignore him, studying the metal parts in front of her more intently than she needed to, hoping that her silence would end the conversation. Her lack of response, unfortunately, triggered more laughter.

Kent's voice seemed even louder from the other side of the car as he spoke. "Man, maybe this is for the better. She really needs to work on her people skills."

Her hand tightened on the flashlight as she tried to count to ten slowly in her mind.

"Hey, didn't Mckenna do one of those things a few years ago?" Samael's voice drifted above her, coming out a bit distorted through the car.

Kent groaned a little at the memory. "Oh, man, that's right! Worse five months of my life! She and mom were both so intolerable!"

Zerina clenched her teeth a little and said as politely as she could, "Trying to work on an engine block here."

The boys ignored her and continued.

"What even happens at those things? It's just a fancy party isn't it?" It almost seemed like Samael had a genuine interest in Cotillion.

Kent snorted. "If only! God, she had to learn, like, all these different dances, and-" he changed the tone of his voice and said in a slow deliberate way," how to speak in a proper way, and different kinds of etiquette, like which is the right fork for certain foods, and a whole bunch of useless information."

She tapped the flashlight in warning against one of the lower pipes, hoping that the boys would finally get the message that she was tired of this subject.

Again, her attempts went unnoticed.

"I don't know, It wouldn't hurt to learn some of those things. I mean, considering your parents' careers, and your aunt, actually. Wouldn't want to embarrass the Peacecraft name." Samael's feet had backed off from the car and his voice was drifting away, much to Zerina's relief. It meant that someone else was finally going to do some actual work with her instead of mindlessly gossip.

Kent was still standing nearby though. "Pfft! My dad renounced the Peacecraft name. He wasn't into this nobility crap. And nobody would care if his kids were proper. We're all military brats anyways. We don't have to be refined. Not that it even matters, since my mom drilled a sense of respect and confidence in us from the minute we were born."

"Seriously, guys. Done with this topic," Zerina stated in a calm voice.

"You might be, Zer, but we're not," came Samael's smart ass response instantly.

Her hands paused at his words as she tensed a little and she could hear Kent's low whistle from above her.

"Whoa, dude, You probably shouldn't..." His voice trailed off for some reason, but she didn't care to know why. It was most likely because he knew the specific tone of voice she'd just used and years of experience had taught him that she was not to be trifled with at the moment.

Samael wasn't even the least bit concerned. "Shouldn't what? She's not the boss of this garage as much as she likes to think it is." The last half of his words were stated deliberately louder towards her.

"Samael," she asked slowly in a sweet voice after a strained pause," can you please hand me the socket wrench?"

"See? She's not even mad!" His voice was closer and she could tell he was complying to her request. Her lips curled up in a devilish smile. "God, you guys can be so dramatic about stuff!"

Zerina felt his hand reach under and press the socket wrench into her smaller hand. She waited as she heard him step away and go back around to the other side of the car.

"Sam, don't-" But Kent's warning came too late.

Within a few seconds, Zerina had pulled herself out from underneath the car and flung the wrench in Samael's direction. She smiled in satisfaction as it him square in the back, her initial desire to get him in the head pushed down from her conscience reminding her that she was already being punished for fighting and didn't need to add on to it.

Samael gave a shout of pain and spun around to see what hit him and paused when he saw the smirk on her face. He narrowed his eyes and leaned down to pick up the socket wrench, but when she raised her hand to show the flashlight in it, he stopped and shook his head in disbelief.

"Really, Rina?" He questioned her, an eyebrow raised. "You're being ridiculous. It's not like you don't already know half this stuff anyways! Your mom's taught most of it to you. This should be a piece of cake!" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. "Besides, I'd love to see you in heels and one of those formal dresses they make you girls wear."

She felt her face grow hot at his comment and immediately threw the flashlight at him to cover her embarrassment, turning quickly to find some more ammo.

He flinched as the flashlight came at him, his arms and left leg coming up to his chest in a clumsy attempt to avoid getting hit. The reward for this action was the sudden sharp pain in his left shoulder.

"Guys, come on! I just barely finished fixing the holes from the last fight!" Kent's pleading was barely acknowledged as the two squared off on opposite sides of the garage, Zerina with the advantage of having the tool boxes on her sides.

This fact didn't go unnoticed by the second-born Maxwell child. "You may have all of the tools, Yuy, but I can outsmart you," Samael taunted, a mischievous glint in his cobalt eyes.

Zerina snorted as she reached out for a nearby wrench with her left hand, the weight somewhat comforting in her grasp. "Ha! We all know a Maxwell male has no brains." Her eyes narrowed in anticipation, waiting to make her next move.

Kent, though, stepped between the two, right in her line of sight, arms outstretched towards each one. "Enough, guys! I really don't have the money to repair any more walls! My dad's already on my ass about the skylights!"

She and Samael shared a look, each silently waiting for the other to declare a truce. He arched an eyebrow at her expectantly to which she responded with a smirk and a shake of the head. He mirrored her response in disbelief before letting out a breath of annoyance, straightening his stance.

"Fine," he relented. "Let's get to work." He turned to reach down and grab a rag from off the floor.

Kent let his arms fall to his sides and sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god this is over. I was getting really worried there." He looked over to his younger cousin, seeing the spark of defiance in her blue eyes, before he had time to duck. "Shit!"

Samael had no chance to dodge as the second wrench hit him exactly where the first one did on his back. "God damn it!" he shouted from the pain.

Zerina's smile widened and she made a half curtsy to her cousin as she walked by him to go back to her spot under the car. " _Now_ it's over," she declared, before she slid under the car, retrieving the flashlight that had conveniently rolled by the car from her earlier toss.

"I can't feel my spine!" Samael whined, his arms flailing a little.

"You wouldn't be standing if that were the case," came Kent's tired reply. It wasn't the first time Samael exaggerated his injuries and it was most likely not the last.

"I should have listened to my dad when he said to never trust a Yuy." Samael grumbled as he turned towards the hood of the car and fiddled around with the latch to pop it open. "They're always looking out for themselves."

Kent merely rolled his eyes and looked around at the car to see what he could work on. Zerina unknowingly did the same with her similar colored eyes from her position on the cold concrete floor and attempted to focus on the car. A few minutes of shared silence passed by, the only sound coming from the tools clanging around on various sections of the old vehicle.

Of course, Samael had to be the one to break it. "You know, Rina," his voice, strangely soft, called out to her.

She paused in her work as she waited for him to continue.

"If you ever need an escort for this thing, you can always call me." Even though she could hear the playful tone in his voice and could even imagine the teasing wink he most likely gave from above, she felt her face flush from his words, her cheeks bright red from the gesture.

She allowed herself to smile, content with knowing that the boys couldn't see it anyways. She cleared her throat and forced her voice to sound annoyed. "Shut it, Maxwell, and hand me that wrench I hit you with."

There was some laughter and the familiar press of the tool being pressed into her waiting hand, his fingers lingering for a minute before retreating. "Anything you want, Beautiful."

 **xxXoXxx**

"So, how did it go?" Relena was in her light pink nightgown, a cotton robe in a similar shade loosely draped around her shoulders, the soft belt tied just above her growing belly.

Heero took in his wife's tired eyes and rumpled appearance, and his face noticeably softened. "You look tired, Relena. You haven't slept all day."

Relena laughed lightly and smiled at him. "Those grumpy old men really made me work for their approval. I feel so dirty after days like this." She arched an eyebrow at him, her knowing gaze no less scary through the vid phone. "And you're dodging the question... Was it really that bad?"

Heero stared blankly at her, his deep blue eyes conveying all that he was feeling. "Sylvia was there. With her daughter."

Relena's ocean blue eyes widened for a second, her left hand covering her mouth in mild surprise. " Oh, dear..." Her gaze shifted downward as she took that in, before she let out a sigh and gave a small shrug, glancing up back at Heero. "Well, it being the fiftieth year and Sylvia being an upper member of high society as well as her daughter being the right age... It should be expected that she be involved." She bit her lower lip thoughtfully, a similar habit, Heero noted, that their daughter had developed, and her eyes narrowed a little. "Although, it would have been nice if Dorothy had given us a heads up."

Heero smirked a bit at his wife's grumpy tone and shook his head. "Of course Dorothy didn't say anything to us, Rel. She's _evil_. She lives for this kind of drama."

"Heero!" Relena's exasperated voice didn't quite match the amused look on her face. "You know that's not... entirely true. I'm sure she had some favors to honor." Her smile never faltered as she watched him shake his head in denial.

For all of the years that they had known the Winners, Heero still never let his guard down around Dorothy, a habit that he insisted was for survival. Any sign of weakness would lead to him getting stabbed, much like his blonde comrade in arms. This was an assertion shared by all the former pilots, and one that would never change, especially Zechs, who insisted that Dorothy was one to be watched with a cautious eye.

Relena tried to hold back a yawn and shifted on the overly plush hotel bed she was sitting on, her back starting to ache a bit without the proper support. "So, how did Rina take it?" she asked as she placed a hand on her low backside and rubbed subconsciously.

Heero watched her move around, feeling somewhat helpless that he couldn't hold her in his arms and ease her pain, then looked down as he made a face at the question. "She didn't create a scene, if that's what you're worried about. Both girls did their best to avoid each other the whole day."

Relena let out a breath of a relief at his reply. "Well, that's good to hear..." She frowned a little when she noticed his solemn expression and how he hadn't brought his eyes back up to hers. "Did anything else happen?" she asked carefully, trying to hold down the growing concern washing over her.

There was a pause, which didn't help to ease her worry, before he answered. "Zerina became aware of how well Sylvia and I knew each other and wouldn't stop asking about it... It never occurred to me that she hasn't ever seen either one of us interact with her." Heero stopped speaking for another minute, trying to quell the feeling of shame that still overtook him whenever he thought back to his past and the conversation he just had with his daughter.

Relena waited for him to continue, sensing that there was more to this. Her eyes studied him intently, trying to understand the look of remorse on his face. When another moment of silence passed, she decided to gently prod him. "Heero?" she asked softly.

Heero heaved a huge sigh and glanced up to her, his prussian blue eyes full of sorrow. "After a few questions, I realized I had to tell her... Not _everything_ , but just about the mission on L-1, and what happened with Field Marshall Noventa... and then what I did right after that."

Relena's eyes had widened and she was again covering her mouth in shock. She took a moment to let this sink in, before she closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, Heero, I'm so sorry you had to do that by yourself with her." When she opened her eyes, she looked almost regretful, her body sagging further onto the bed as she then asked," How did she take it?"

Heero's lips twitched slightly up as he stared into his wife's eyes. "She took it how I would expect _you_ to." At Relena's confused expression, he clarified for her. "She told me she didn't care and that what happened in the past made me who I am today." His smile grew at the memory and he was still in a bit of a daze from it. "And then she hugged me."

Relena smiled gently at him, ignoring the dragging feeling in her eyelids. "We have a wise daughter, Heero" she mused. "I wonder where she gets it from ..."

Heero smirked at her sing song tone, already anticipating her response to the next thing he was about to say. "We both know it's from you." He raised a finger at her as she, as expected, opened her mouth to protest, but he cut off her off quickly by saying softly," Both of the kids may not look like you, but they definitely exhibit your problem solving skills, quick thinking, and strength."

Relena chuckled lightly at the compliments. "You keep saying it, but I don't think I'll ever believe you when you tell me that I am stronger than you." She smiled warmly at him before her expression changed quickly to startled, as her whole body jumped up in the bed for a split second. She moved her right hand up to her stomach, and gave a little shake of her head. "This baby is far more aggressive than the last two," she said in mild surprise, her eyes locking onto Heero's. "I'm definitely blaming you for that one."

Heero snorted and crossed his arms, looking at her pointedly. "How about we both blame your brother for that?"

There was a small smile and a matching twinkle in her eye from the comment. "I would, but honestly, I still blame him for Zerina." She looked like she was about to continue, but then her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Speaking of the baby, Dr. Franklin called me this morning."

Heero studied her face for a second, noting that she didn't seem _too_ upset about anything, but he was still concerned at her troubled expression, Her Obstetrician was calling her again for what seemed like the hundredth time during this particular pregnancy. "Is everything all right? Is the baby okay?" He really did try to hold back the panic in his voice, but it still slipped through at the end.

Relena didn't notice, or was being kind enough to act like she didn't notice, and waved her hands slowly in a "calm down" sort of way. "The baby is fine. Nothing to worry about there. He was just letting me know that there was another security breach on the hospital files."

Heero stiffened, the two words "security" and "breach" that had always filled his heart with dread when he heard them, echoing in his head. "Was anything compromised?" he asked carefully.

She shook her head in response. "No, nothing that the hospital staff's security team are aware off. Although," she paused as she looked off in the distance," they said that this time was really strange... The hackers only accessed one set of files this time."

Heero raised an eyebrow at that and looked at her expectantly. "Which ones?" He was growing impatient and slightly paranoid at how long Relena was dragging this information out.

She tossed her shoulders in a resigned way. "They tried to access the Radiology Department. I couldn't even fathom a reason why, until Dr. Franklin further explained the situation to me." At this, her blue eyes drifted back to his and he gulped a little at the slight fire and hint of accusation in them. She was _really_ getting good at this interrogation stuff. "I forgot that the Ultrasounds are part of that department," she stated calmly, but her tone sharp.

Heero blinked for a second, before realization dawned on him.

Relena saw this and arched her eyebrows at him knowingly. "I have to say, while I'm incredibly surprised at your ingenuity at finding loopholes, as well as impressed at his brazenness at hacking my personal medical files while standing _right next to me_ as my personal guard, I'm very upset that there was even an attempt to find out the baby's sex after we already agreed that we'd wait until the baby is born."

Heero had the decency to look chagrined at her words. Before he could open his mouth to give a defense and maybe even an apology, Relena raised her hand at him and waved the words away.

"I know _you_ didn't personally do it," she huffed out, her long golden locks flying up from the movement. "Nor do I believe that you ordered Duo to get it done. I'm quite certain that he went out of his way to do you a favor."

Heero's face changed quickly at the mention of the Deathscythe pilot. "Duo?"

Relena nodded slowly. "He really takes your 'Gundam Brotherhood' too seriously sometimes," she murmured absently, rubbing her stomach gently.

There was a brief pause of Relena ruminating on her closest friend's traitorous acts, while Heero fumbled through his thoughts to gather evidence that pointed to this conclusion. _When did Duo have the time to be on a computer when he was supposed to be watching her this entire week?_

Her light voice brought him back to the present. "Anyways, I'm going to need you to speak with him about this."

Heero's knitted his eyebrows together in confusion at the request. "But isn't he there with you? Why can't you talk to him?"

Relena's expression darkened a little at this suggestion. "Because I won't be as nice as you if I do it."

Heero held back the gulp and nodded quickly. "I'll do it when you get home," he answered quickly.

"Thank you." She yawned rather big and loud then, and looked to him apologetically. "I believe that's my cue to get to bed." She smiled gently at him as her hands reached over on her end to the power button. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you."

Heero smiled and gave a nod back. "I love you too. Sleep well."

Relena held back another yawn as she answered,"I will."

Heero waited until he saw her push the "End" button on her side and watched the screen turn black. He waited a few more minutes to verify that the connection was indeed closed. When he no longer heard anything, he completely shut down his end, going so far as to unplug the vid phone, before suddenly jumping to his feet.

"Aleph!" he shouted to his son that he knew was down the hallway playing video games. He darted his eyes around, trying to locate his laptop and a few other secret devices he had.

"What?" came his son's exasperated reply, clearly not enjoying getting his current game interrupted.

"Get in here!" Heero's stern tone left no room for argument.

Within seconds, Aleph entered the bedroom, a look of annoyance plastered on his face. "What is it? What's going on?" He leaned in the door frame and crossed his arms.

Heero found his laptop and the other questionable devices. "She knows" he stated simply as he picked up the items.

There was a pause as his son processed this information, before a look of shock and fear showed on his face. "You said she wouldn't find out!" He pointed a finger at his father accusingly. "I _knew_ she would figure it out!"

Heero turned to face Aleph better and shook his head. "Calm down. She doesn't know it was us." He glanced around the room to check for any stray items. "She thinks it was Duo, so that buys us some time."

Aleph frowned at his father's words. "Time for what?"

Heero's lips twitched up a little into a small smirk as he tossed some of the things in his hands to Aleph. "Time for you to learn a few more tricks on hacking." He watched as the boy's began to twinkle a with excitement. "Ready to learn how to completely erase any traces of your presence online and in any electronic system?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Cotillion**

"Ms. Peacecraft, how about you come up here and share your position on the subject and I'll pick somebody who disagrees to counter your viewpoint."

Zerina froze midway into her frantic scribbling of her latest missed math homework assignment, and darted her eyes to the side as she struggled to recall what her instructor was rambling about a moment ago. Judging by the deliberate tone used, Ms. Santos was fully aware that she hadn't been paying attention at all to the discussion at hand.

Knowing that she had no way to pretend she was listening, she sighed softly, pushing her work aside, and stood up slowly. As she trudged forward to the front of the borrowed English classroom that the Young Diplomat's group used for their twice a week meetings, she casually asked," What was the topic again?"

Ms. Santos didn't hide her disappointment in Zerina's continued lack of interest in the group when she spoke. "The Gundam Pilots' during the Eve's War have been both praised and criticized for their involvement. Some view them as beneficial to ending the war, while others insist that the presence of Gundams prolonged the war even further. State your position and the reasons why."

Zerina, who had reached one of the wooden podiums standing in front of the class, paused in her steps and blinked at the question, turning around to face her group instructor. "Are you serious?" she questioned softly.

Ms. Santos raised an eyebrow at the girl's confusion and nodded. "Do you have an opinion on the subject, Ms. Peacecraft?"

Zerina tried to hold back her annoyance and started to wonder if she was actually chosen for this particular topic for who her mother was, instead of for her simply not paying attention. She bit her lower lip as her blue eyes narrowed in irritation at the subject. "Well, duh! Of course the presence of the Gundams helped lead to the end of the war! Between stopping Mr. Treize from gaining control of everything, and preventing the Romafeller Foundation from doing the same thing, as well as stopping White Fang from dropping a damn colony on the earth, which ultimately kept the world from being destroyed, the Gundams were incredibly advantageous in ending the war. And then there was the whole Barton Uprising, which they stopped by sparing _many_ lives. Who would have any doubts about that?"

Ms. Santos glanced around the gathered group of about twenty teens and motioned with her hand as she stepped around the room. "Well, does anybody disagree?"

There was an uncomfortable pause as some of the teens debated whether they really wanted to argue with the world's most beloved diplomat's daughter, before a hand towards the back left side of the class was raised confidently. "I believe the Gundams were unnecessary in a battle striving for peace, since their very existence created more turmoil and deaths than the basic mobile suits that were already around," a deep voice boldly stated.

All eyes turned to the owner of the voice as Ms. Santos gave a small nod of acknowledgment and gestured for him to stand. "Ah, yes, the idea that the Gundams were far deadlier than the Leos or Tauruses and therefore created more chaos. Please stand up and stand next to Ms. Peacecraft to defend your statement."

Zerina narrowed her eyes, not recognizing the voice at all, as she waited for the boy to stand. As he came into view, she grew slightly confused, definitely not remembering him, until she briefly recalled at the beginning of the meeting that Ms. Santos had introduced him as a new recruit from one of the other nearby private schools. Hector something or other. She studied him as he came into view walking towards her. He was considerably taller than her, definitely around a foot more, but not as tall as Sam or her cousin Kent. He had an athletic built to him, broad shoulders but long thin legs, perhaps a soccer player, with perfectly tanned skin. His slightly long jet black hair neatly fell over the smug look built into his distracting light brown eyes that she wanted to say were more amber in color. He probably would have been considered cute to her, except that she didn't bother with boys, especially _high school_ boys. It didn't help his case that he'd also just verbally assaulted her family.

"Hector, what other reasons do you have to believe the Gundams created more war?" Ms. Santos questioned as she placed herself on the back wall to observe the two teens.

Hector turned in his steps to stand behind the podium next to Zerina, giving her a slight smirk and wink much to her disgust, before facing the rest of the group, sweeping his eyes dramatically over them as his smirk turned to an over confident smile, instantly charming the few other girls in the group. "The Gundams were sent down from the colonies as an act of revenge. They targeted many military bases, and killed innocent civilians in the process. And this destruction was not just limited to the earth. There were battles between the gundams themselves in space, causing other deaths from the crossfire. A colony was destroyed-"

" _Allegedly_ , Hector. Try to keep the conspiracy theories out of this debate," Ms. Santos cut in.

Hector nodded and continued. "Young men were killed just for their affiliations with OZ _and_ the Alliance. There wasn't a distinct enemy for the Gundams. They were killing just to kill. The one designated zero one took down a shuttle carrying many diplomats trying to avoid war, for god's sake! What monster could even do such a thing?"

All eyes turned to Zerina at the end of his small speech, her response awaited for with expectant ears as the daughter of Relena Peacecraft was known for having a sharp tongue for those who disagreed with her. There was a long pause, before their faces of anticipation turned to that of stunned as they realized that she had nothing to say.

Zerina had her eyes closed, and she was counting as quickly as she could to whatever the highest number in the world was in a feeble attempt to quell the growing anger that was burning throughout her chest. She'd been upset before, half the idiots in this group always said ridiculous statements, but _this_ time... This anger was one to rival the time she fought with Eloise. And, as much as she hated to admit it, his words stung.

It wasn't that she couldn't think of anything to say. Oh, no, she had an entire book's worth of responses for this insolent little rich bastard, along with a few good knocks to the head. But what was stopping her was her mother's voice in her head, telling her to use her _words_ , compromise, and when all else failed, at least be respectful. She didn't want to do any of these things!

All she could think about was her father's face when he confessed to her some of things he'd done in the war, one of which was the very thing Hector had brought up. The immense sadness, the perpetual guilt, the look of unworthiness in his deep blue eyes... Perhaps it was because her father had recently spoken to her about this that she was so upset, but it still didn't change the fact that this idiot called her father a "monster".

Heero Yuy was _not_ a monster. He was a loving father, a devoted husband, a loyal friend, a great man. Her memories were filled with that of a father who would tease her, play games and even sit down for a tea party with her, reading her bedtime stories no matter how many times she asked for the same book, the gentleness he displayed when she was sick in bed and would watch over her.

There was the loving touches he would give to Relena as they passed each other in the hallway or the kitchen, the looks of adoration he'd shoot to her mother when Relena wasn't looking, the way he fussed over her when she was pregnant with Aleph, and even now with the newest baby.

Her uncles also shared a great friendship with her dad and nobody could ever meet the group of men and doubt their unwavering allegiance to each other. And she wasn't being cocky in seeing that all of them looked up to her dad for many reasons. He was awesome, damn it!

Her eyes narrowed at Hector, her fists clenched tightly as her angered thoughts swam around her head. There were only a few other men in the entire galaxy who could measure up to her father, and she was lucky enough to know all six of them personally. And not one of those men was a monster.

She took a deep breath, inwardly amused at the sudden look of worry that crossed over Hector, and opened her mouth. "How dare you!" she seethed. "The Gundam pilots are far away from being monsters! And, yes, I said _pilots,_ because any moron out there knows that the Gundams were piloted by actual humans, not like those stupid mobile dolls!" She ignored the well known look on Ms. Santos's face that signaled she was about to tell her stop and plowed on through her rant. "As such, humans aren't perfect. Mistakes were unfortunately made. It was a senseless war. Orders were given and then followed through misguided beliefs. Would you call every soldier of OZ or the Alliance a monster? The Gundam pilots sole mission was to free the colonies and bring peace between them and the earth, which they did. Twice! How could you call them monsters?!"

"Ms. Peacecraft, I think that's enough," the instructor cut in.

Zerina turned her angered blue eyes on the older woman, mildly surprised that she felt slight tears in them, unaware how infuriated she had become. Before she could respond, Hector cut in.

"Aren't you taking this a bit too personally?" he asked, that annoying smugness creeping back into his low voice.

Zerina looked back at him, a glare of absolute hatred focusing on his amber eyes. His lips quirked up in that same smirk he'd given her at the beginning of this madness.

A stray tear slipped out and her fury from his snotty question faded as she became more distressed from the whole situation. She shoved the podium away and stomped over to the desk she was sitting at, grabbing her things frantically as she forced them all into her backpack, and raced out of the door quickly before anybody could stop her or see that she was crying. She'd be damned if anybody caught her in this moment of weakness.

She sped past the other straggling students who were staying after school for other various clubs or sports teams, making her way quickly to the student parking lot. Tetra, unlike her, was allowed to drive to school, and usually waited after the day ended in her car for Zerina, using the time to sit in her large SUV to do her homework, finding the vehicle a much quieter sanctuary to work, since the house remodeling was getting out of control.

Zerina found the shiny bronze gold vehicle in it's usual parking spot under the shady tree at the back of the lot, and quickly made her way to it. She opened the door and threw herself unceremoniously into the passenger seat, catching Tetra by surprise, and threw her backpack in an aggressive manner into the backseat.

"Zer," her best friend asked cautiously in her soft voice," what's wrong?"

Zerina wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands, mad at herself for still not getting her tears under control and shook her head. "Just take me home, please, T."

Tetra studied her face for a moment, worried about the sadness in her best friend's light blue eyes, then nodded slowly, putting her work away in her backpack to clear the front seat. "Okay."

She buckled her seat belt before placing the keys in the ignition and turning the car on. After glancing back behind the car to check her blind spots, she put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space slowly. It was when she put the car in drive and was about to release her right foot from the brake pedal that Zerina grabbed her arm suddenly, stopping her motion.

"No, wait," she said in a low voice. "Take me to the garage instead... I can't-" she sniffled a bit then started again, her voice breaking a little," I can't go home like this."

Tetra nodded and recalculated her mental map of where she was headed. "Wherever you want, Zer." She tried to force back her concern for her friend and focus on driving safely. She knew from experience that Zerina would talk when she was was ready. But seeing her crying in public was a sign that something really bad had just happened.

 **xxXoXxx**

The loud slamming of the front door hitting the wall and Duo's equally loud voice echoing," Honey, we're home!", up the stairway announced Relena's arrival. Heero was on his feet immediately, striding down the stairs quickly to give his wife a kiss on the cheek and help with carrying her luggage.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said softly to him as he reached down towards her hand for one of the bags she was holding.

Duo smirked and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the once deadly Perfect Soldier be reduced to such menial tasks. Although it wasn't necessarily a bad thing to see the man help his wife out, it was just the realization that the pilots were now simply _mortal_ family men.

"You know, I tried to do the very same thing when we got to the colony and what did she do? Smack me really hard on the back and yank the damn bag from my hands!" He watched Relena turn back mid step on the stairs and send a glare at him for the statement. His signature grin graced his features as he focused on his best friend's face, enjoying the look of irritation he was making at her expense for once. Duo raised a finger threateningly at Relena. "Hey, I told you I was going to tattle! You knew what was going to happen when I got you home."

Relena let out a growl of frustration and shook her head. "I told you not to say anything to him, because Heero's just looking for excuses to keep me home and out of work!" Her ocean blue eyes locked onto Heero's, easily ignoring the look of annoyance on his face. "I'm pregnant, not ill! Stop looking at me like that. Everything is fine!" Those last words seemed directed at Duo as she finished ascending the stairway and stomped off to her room.

"Just because you say it, doesn't make it true! Or did you forget the infamous Barton barbecue fiasco last year?" Duo shouted back at her, his slight laughter bouncing through between his words.

Her response was the bedroom door slamming.

Duo chuckled to himself and glanced over to Heero, who looked torn between trying to calm his wife down, or backing his friend up on something he'd been fighting with her about since they had first found out she was pregnant again. Logic overruled emotion, as per usual with Heero, and with a sigh, he turned his eyes onto Duo, looking at him expectantly.

Duo shook his head again at Heero's expression and began to take off his jacket. "Should have known you wanted a status report." His cobalt eyes darted up the stairs to ensure Relena wasn't there, before they focused back on his friend, the need for discretion high. "Look, I'm only telling you this now, because I know when you go hacking into Preventer's database for the info later, despite Lady's countless disciplinary actions against you, you'll end up beating me for not telling you sooner."

Heero simply smirked at the comment and relaxed into a smug posture. "If you didn't want me to access the information, you wouldn't have made it so easy for me to get in." An eyebrow rose in challenge. "Unless you've gotten a little rusty...?"

Duo made a face at the implication and narrowed his eyes at Heero. "Rusty? Ha! Nobody will ever surpass the God of Death when it comes to stealth and breaking security mainframes!" He crossed his arms behind his head in annoyance. "I just stopped bothering to make it crazy airtight, since there's only one guy insane enough to keep hacking the _former_ Foreign Minister's itinerary. Any other idiot wouldn't be able to get past the first firewall. If they even cared enough to do that much!"

The nonchalant shrug from Heero and the cavalier look on his face forced Duo to give up and continue with his initial report. He leaned in to Heero to whisper in his ear, afraid that Relena might overhear him. "There was an incident on the elevator at the hotel during the week. Nothing bad," he added quickly when Heero tensed up. "She just suddenly got lightheaded and lost her balance. I had her before she even fell, but..." Duo pressed his lips together at the memory. "I don't know. She seemed out of it... I wouldn't be surprised if other stuff has been happening when nobody is watching her and she just keeps it to herself."

He studied Heero's expression, wondering what his friend would even do with this information. It sort of bothered him seeing one of his closest friends not doing so well. But Relena was always one to ignore her body and health when it came to work. A trait that, while noble at times, was unbelievably frustrating for her husband.

Heero was silent for a minute before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "I _have_ to talk to her about it. But I might need some back up from Sally first. Relena can't argue with me when I have a medical professional behind me with the right things to say. "

Duo nodded in agreement as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Sounds like a good plan to me." He frowned a little when he heard a phone ringing, reaching down to his pocket to check if it was his.

Heero was faster and had already dug out his own cell phone, the suddenly higher volume signaling that it was actually his phone that was ringing. When he glanced down at the caller i.d., his brow furrowed in confusion and he quickly answered it. "Yes?"

Duo snorted a little at Heero's abruptness, somewhat amused and grateful to know that he wasn't the only one who had been on the bad receiving end of his comrade's tense phone calls.

Now wanting to eavesdrop, but having nothing better to do, Duo leaned a little closer to Heero to try and hear who was on the other end.

Heero caught this, however, and took a step back away from Duo, a hand raised up to block him from coming any closer. "This is her father." He had answered an apparent question on the other end.

Duo watched as Heero's frown deepened. "What do you mean she just 'took off'?"

Duo let out a sympathetic sigh, not having to hear more to already know what this call was about. He'd been on the receiving end of similar calls many many _many_ times before. His two oldest sons had practically made it a game at this point, performing as many of the most outlandish stunts and acts of disrespect in a week possible that they could. Fortunately, the fountain incident at the Winner mansion at the beginning of the year and his firstborn child's, Aeron, graduation the previous year had cut those calls in half. But there was still Samael and the last three of the Maxwell brood to get through high school, and he was worried that his two daughters would take after his wife and make his life miserable.

He listened in to Heero's conversation when the other pilot's voice rose a few decibels. "You let her leave the classroom in a state of distress and _didn't send anyone after her_ ?"

Duo's eyes widened slightly at that, growing a bit concerned for his favorite Yuy, wondering what could have upset her that badly.

The ringing of his cell phone prevented him from giving that worry any further thought and he reached into his jeans, pulling it out and answering the call quickly, making sure to step a few feet away out of courtesy to Heero. "Hey, Sam, everything okay?"

"Dad?" Samael seemed a bit... scared. Duo wasn't sure how to take his son's tone of voice. "You think you can come down to the garage?"

Duo tried not to growl in annoyance, definitely not in the mood to make a trip to the other side of the city, just to pick up his son from the crazy ass Lightning Count's place of solitude. "Why can't you drive yourself home? Did you take your car apart _again_ to see if you could install another ridiculous piece of shitty looking chrome?"

"That was for style, not substance, and I removed it after I realized you were right about the lime green color and-" Samael cut himself off and tried again. "Zerina's here," he added in a low voice.

Duo let out a sigh of relief and glanced up to Heero, mouthing the word "garage" to his friend when their eyes made contact.

Heero's eyes rolled heavenward, before shutting briefly, his posture relaxing significantly at the news.

"Ok, kid, thanks for letting me know. Her dad just got the call from school, so I'll pass it on to him."

Duo was about to hang up when he heard Samael shout "Wait!" frantically at him.

"What?" he asked when he brought the phone back to his ear, trying not to let his irritation show in his voice.

"Just thought I should warn you that she's at a level five angry."

Now Duo understood his son's urge to whisper throughout the call. He paused, chewing the inside of his lip thoughtfully at this newfound knowledge. "How bad of a five?" he finally asked, hoping he would get the answer he wanted.

"Peacecraft scale, not Yuy."

Damn. That was the worst kind. Peacecraft five meant complete unpredictability. Zerina had only reached that level twice in her lifetime, the moving to Mars incident with her uncle as well as the time she didn't get the toy she wanted and Samael, after having recently found out about Relena's past title of Queen of the World, teased her by calling her a spoiled "Princess" The anger scales were developed out of necessity from the latter incident, one that Duo instilled in his children as a means of protection, since they all practically lived with each other. Nobody wanted a repeat of the last Peacecraft Scale Five Anger master offender's actions. Duo could live without having another crazy attempt to drop a colony on earth, thank you very much.

He let out a low whistle as he thought his next course of action over. Knowing there wasn't much else to do, he resigned himself to the upcoming task and shook his head at his lack of resolve. "All right. I'll talk it over with the Wing Overlord and let him know what's up."

"Oh, thank you, God of Death," his son's relieved voice sounded through the phone.

Duo ignored his second born child's blatant attempt of flattery and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just try not to destroy the garage again. I don't need another bill sent to me from his royal pain in the ass. I'm still paying off the other three."

"No problem!" With that, a long beep signaled his son hanging up and Duo took in a slow calming breath as he shoved his cell phone back into his pocket. He looked over to Heero just as he was also ending his call.

"Well, thank you for the _courtesy_ call," his angered voice nearly shouted, dripping with sarcasm. "I appreciate how much effort you've placed on my daughter's well being."

The sound of a bedroom door opening upstairs and Relena's concerned voice asking," Heero?" caused the former Perfect Soldier to freeze. Duo would have laughed at the look of panic and fear that the pacifist princess's voice placed on his longtime comrade, if it weren't for the fact that he too knew the hell that would take place if she found out about her daughter's current situation. It was Peacecraft five all over again and it was now apparent that he was trying to avoid it on all fronts.

"Is everything okay?" She sounded closer, which meant the she was now coming down the hallway to talk them. This was not good as she could tell if Heero was lying to her much better face to face.

Alarm bells were sounding in both the pilots' heads as they glanced at each other, frantically trying to come up with something, _anything_ , that would appease her mood.

Duo's violet eyes caught Heero's deep blue ones, and he narrowed them a bit, communicating as they focused on each other that he would get them out of this one. Heero gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, just as Relena swung around the corner and began to descend the stairway.

Heero merely gave a small shrug and tried to look casual as he nodded quickly. "Everything's fine."

Duo forced back the groan of disappointment that rose in his throat at his best bud's suddenly poor lying skill _s. When did Heero lose his edge and become so... beta?_ His violet eyes darted back to Relena when she suddenly stopped on the stairs, crossing her arms lightly over her chest, her ocean blue eyes narrowing slightly at her husband's behavior. It was then that it clicked in Duo's mind that years of marriage to the galaxy's most renowned politician most likely had a hand in his bestie's downfall.

"I don't believe you," was her incredibly misleadingly calm response.

Heero, to his credit, managed to tone down the deer-in-headlights look to that of one Duo would call more "mildly surprised", and simply shook his head. "All is fine, Relena. You should go relax while I make dinner."

Relena's left eye became smaller at that, her suspicious nature piqued from her beloved's less than obvious attempt to butter her up like the proverbial toast or croissant or whichever, that he thought her to be. There was a momentary pause in which she sized up Heero, some sort of guilty emotion bursting through his deep Prussian blue eyes despite his trying incredibly hard not to let it shine through.

She decided to take mercy upon her husband and instead turned her attention to her favorite bodyguard who she knew never told a lie. She smiled disarmingly at him as he noticeably shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Duo, what's going on?"

It was then that Duo realized her strategic mastery in placing herself at the height of the stairs where she would be exactly right over them, her powerful aura overwhelmingly exuding while she literally looked down upon them. He took a step back despite his pride screaming at him not to give her the satisfaction and lifted a hand up to point at her in an almost accusatory way. "Nuh, uh! Nope! I already learned the hard way from the Changs not to get in the middle of a couple's spat!" He reached back with his other hand to locate the front door and nearly sighed in relief when the door knob lined up perfectly into his palm. He turned the knob and glanced to Heero meaningfully, giving him a mock salute. "I'm going to go pick up Sam from the ol' Baron's place and get that thing I was telling you about and drop it off on my way back home."

Heero nodded his understanding of the underlying message there and waved him off. "Just leave it at the back door, so nobody sees it," he added, hoping his hidden response was clear enough.

Duo nodded and avoided prolonging the painful conversation by giving a casual wave and darting off into the night without further comment. Normally, he would add his usual joke or two about him getting Sam to ask Zerina on a date and eventually marriage, since Heero always cringed at the thought of the two teens being anything more than bantering friends. This time, though, was definitely not the right night to do it.

"It better have been worth it, kid," he muttered to himself as he climbed into his SUV. "Your mother is going to kill all of us when she finds out."


	6. Chapter 6

Cotillion

* * *

The silence was deafening.

Samael couldn't think of any other time in his life when the garage was this unbelievably quiet. Hell, he couldn't think of a time in his life that _he_ was ever this quiet. And it was getting to him. Maxwells were never known to keep their words to themselves, and whatever it was that was keeping Zerina from talking the moment she walked in with the Winner pest, he wasn't about to let it rule over him too.

Perhaps it was more unnerving to him at the moment because it was preceded for an hour and a half by Zerina's incredibly loud and infuriated nonverbal screams mixed with the slamming of various garage items. He hadn't seen her this rage induced since the time in fourth grade when he made the mistake of telling her she was gross immediately after a particularly heartfelt moment. Therein leading to his terrified phone call to his dad about Zerina's current behavior. If only he had know that her coping mechanisms would change so quickly, or that his dad would take his sweet time getting to the garage, he wouldn't have even bothered sneaking out to make that call.

He took a quick glance to Kent on his right who, at this particular instant, was standing off to the side of the car flipping a large wrench over and over in his right hand, clearly bored out of his mind, but definitely not wanting to incur the wrath of his dear younger cousin. Samael turned his bright violet blue eyes over towards Tetra. The Winner brat, much to his annoyance, was playing with her nails and disregarding the males in the room as she usually did when Zerina brought her over, despite the boys' many threats. While Kent's reasoning was because he was aware of the small crush the younger teen had on him, Samael was just flat out annoyed by her presence. She always brought out the most irritating part of Zerina's personality.

After confirming that neither one of them was willing to speak up, Samael inwardly shrugged and decided that enough was enough. He tossed the greasy rag in his hands down onto the work table right in front of Zerina and leaned over it, resting his palms on the edge of the table.

"All, right, spill," he said with his usual Maxwell bravado, gleefully noting the other three teens jumping from their perspective areas. "What's got you all worked up this time, Princess?"

He ignored Tetra's raised eyebrows of fear and Kent's groan of woe.

"Really, Sam, you should have just left it alone," the Peacecraft male muttered loudly.

Zerina, however, looked up into Samael's eyes sadly, and, much to his surprise, sniffled. She seemed to be holding back even more tears. He sighed and felt his insides soften a little at her sad pretty face, wondering what on earth and the colonies could have gotten to her so badly.

"Rina, what happened today?," he asked more gently this time.

Zerina looked down from his questioning gaze and took a deep breath, before finally asking quietly," Do you think our dads are... monsters?"

Samael frowned at the question and looked to Tetra for help, whose only input was a small shrug and a mouthed "I don't know". Kenny was no help either, his response a simple head shake.

He focused back on Zerina who was staring blankly at the work table. "Uhh... Well..." The question had left him completely dumbfounded and he struggled to find something to say. He finally gave up trying to find an appropriate answer and flung his hands up in the air. " I mean, my dad can be an asshole sometimes, you know, and like... Your dad scares everybody he meets..." He trailed off as he noticed her eyes close briefly. "That's not quite the answer you were looking for, was it?"

Zerina shook her head and let out a long sigh. "No. it's not..." She bit her lower lip and glanced back at him, her crystal blue eyes penetrating through his. "It's stupid... I don't even know why I let that guy make me cry."

Immediately, Samael and Kent were on the defensive, both boys straightening up and turning to her sharply.

"Some guy made you cry?" Kent's question was a mix of anger and incredulity.

"What guy was saying things to you?" Samael asked, his tone more forceful than he intended.

Zerina waved her hands around in a mild effort to calm the two teens down. "No, no. It's not what you think. It was just the stupid debate we had to do at the Young Diplomats meeting today." At the two looks of confusion focused on her, she let out a breath of irritation and shook her head. "We were asked to defend our views on whether we believed the Gundam pilots made the wars better or worse with their presence. Obviously, I defended our dads, and that other moron said a lot of …" she hesitated before adding in a small voice," hurtful things."

At this explanation, Kent, Samael, and even Tetra moaned their frustrations together.

"Really? _That's_ what's got you so upset today?" Kent threw his arms behind his head as he meandered his way towards his tool box. "Can't believe I wasted an afternoon of work on this nonsense."

Tetra nodded in agreement with her crush. "Seriously, Z, this isn't anything we haven't heard before. Hell, I think Ken's dad has said some meaner things to your dad's face quite a few times." She glanced to Kent who rigorously nodded his approval of that statement.

"Yeah, my dad hasn't exactly been the nicest person towards Milli or even Dorothy, for that matter. He's been pretty unpleasant with them ever since the last garage fight and fountain incident." Samael was about to continue, but stopped his train of thought when he noticed Zerina's chagrined expression. His brows furrowed together slightly and he leaned closer to her, trying to catch her eyes with his again. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Zerina continued to surprise him this night when she looked up at him sadly, instead of with her usual angered glare, nodding her confirmation. "Last week... at the stupid orientation... My dad told me some things."

At this, Tetra and Kent paused their hands and looked to her expectantly. Samael was equally attentive.

"What things, Zer?" Tetra asked slowly.

Zerina's eyes widened a little at the question, her disbelief from the emotional conversation actually happening still affecting her. "Stuff that he did... from the wars." If she hadn't been so upset from the meeting earlier, she would have laughed at the collective gasp she heard. There was a slight pause of shock, before she was bombarded with questions.

"What did he tell you exactly?" Samael started. "How many things? And why?"

Kent was probably the most surprised. "Does your mom know this? What even brought this on?"

"When did this happen? I was with you the whole time!" Tetra cried out, exasperated at having missed something significant.

Zerina gave a small smile at their reactions and waved a hand at the questions. "Look, guys, I'm really not sure I should have even said this much." At their disappointed sounds, she sighed in resignation and gestured around with her hands again. "Okay, fine! It wasn't even anything that would interest you guys that much. He just mentioned an incident that happened on one of his early missions and how that affected him later on when he..." She paused, still uncomfortable with sharing what her father had told her.

"When he what?" Tetra pressed.

Zerina began to bite her lower lip again and shrugged. "Remember that story Uncle Zechs told us about the shuttle that got destroyed in battle that was carrying all of the people who didn't want to go to war?"

Kent nodded his head, while Tetra's eyes widened from the dawning realization. Samael, though, was unusually quiet, standing off to the side with his arms crossed as he looked at Zerina intently.

Zerina took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "That was my dad who did it." She looked to Tetra pointedly. "And he told me that one of the ambassadors on that shuttle was Eloise's great grandfather."

Tetra couldn't hold in her shock. "No way!" She nearly fell off her perch on the work table she was sitting on from her excitement. "God, no wonder she hates us so much!"

"I don't think she knows that, though, T," Zerina mumbled.

"She would have to know! There's no way that was kept a secret!" Tetra began to pace thoughtfully.

"For about sixteen years it was for _us_ ," Zerina quietly pointed out.

Tetra waved dismissively at her. "Yeah, but..." She looked up suddenly to Zerina. "So, Eloise's mom... When we saw her with your dad that day...?"

Zerina made a slight face at the memory. "Yeah, about that..." She breathed in deeply and let it out. "Apparently, if it weren't for a bunch of people and Eloise's mom being so forgiving... my dad would have been dead a long time ago."

Tetra paused in her steps and looked to Zerina, her head tilted in question. " What do you mean?"

This was when Kent broke in. "Holy shit, that thing Dreia told us about _her_ dad."

Tetra's aqua eyes wandered over to the older teen. "Which thing?"

"When she said she overheard Trowa talking to Heero on the phone. Something about him having accompanied Heero on some death wish mission when they were younger," Samael answered quickly. He kept his gaze on Zerina, watching for her reaction. "Dreia never got the full story or confirmation that she even heard right, but now... Some of the pieces are falling into place."

There was a lull in the conversation as the four teens mulled this over. It was strange to think how all of their lives were interconnected with other people outside of their small six families and in such significant ways.

Trying to avoid another long block of awkward silence, Samael decided to steer the conversation back to the beginning. "So, the whole reason you're upset and stormed into the garage today is because there was a stupid debate at your meeting where some guy went off on our dads and you were extra sensitive about it because your dad had just recently told you about some horrible things he did in the war?"

Zerina grimaced at his summary of the afternoon's events. "Why do you have to say it like that?" she asked with a smidge of a defensive tone.

Samael raised an eyebrow at her expression. "Like what?"

Zerina looked to Tetra to see if her best friend agreed with her. "Like..." She twirled her right wrist around as she struggled to find the right words. "Like I'm a big baby that can't handle criticism!"

Samael tried hard not to laugh. "Because you _did_ act like a big baby that couldn't handle criticism." He held a hand up to silent her protests. "Not to say that you always are. Just in this particular instance, which is understandable." He straightened to his full height and crossed his arms. "But the next big question is: are you going to tell your mom what happened?"

"Why would _that_ be the 'next big question'?" Tetra cut in irritably on Zerina's behalf.

Samael smirked at the platinum blonde. "Because our dear Rina ditched a punishment, and I'm pretty sure she has no desire to go back anytime soon, since people saw her cry." He glanced to Zerina who glowered in response at the statement and curled her arms and legs into her chest. "And If I'm not mistaken, she's already skating on thin ice, what with that El chick situation and the whole Cotillion thing."

Tetra rolled her eyes at the assumptions. "Please, like that's really such a horrible thing to do. Aunt Relena will understand." She turned her attention to Zerina. "Right?"

Zerina ignored her best friend's gaze and chewed on her right thumbnail. "Damn it," she grumbled out when she realized Samael was right.

"Z, your mom has to know what happened. She's not going to force you to do something you don't feel comfortable doin-," Here was when Tetra cut herself off as she realized that the very act of signing up Zerina for Cotillion was, in fact, Relena forcing Zerina to do something she wasn't comfortable with. "Oh... right," Tetra sighed and flounced back onto the work table she was sitting on.

"I have to figure out a way to get out of this stupid thing!" Zerina whispered to herself fiercely.

"I don't know, Zer. Seems like it's already a done deal to me. I mean, she got my mom enlisted to help her. There's not much escape from the clutches of Dorothy Catalonia-Winner." Tetra began to also nibble on her pointer fingernail absentmindedly. "I mean, there really isn't anything to do to get out of this. It's all this proper high class nonsense thrown under the guise of etiquette. Everything is designed to make you the best possible lady the upper class has ever seen. You'd have to be a completely boorish person to fail the most basic tasks."

At that comment, the two girls looked up quickly and stared at each other intently, the idea hitting them both simultaneously. "That's it!" they screamed together crazily.

"God, I think I just lost my hearing," Samael grumbled to himself as he attempted to rub the pain away from his ears.

Kent didn't seem the least bit bothered by the younger teens screaming. " _What's_ it?" he asked in confusion.

Tetra smiled at him broadly, proud of herself and her brilliant mind at solving her best friend's dilemma. "We can get Zerina out of Cotillion!"

Kent frowned at her. "How? By acting like a low class idiot? Dorothy will see right through that."

Tetra slapped a hand to her forehead and rolled her eyes at Ken's words. "Well, duh, if Zerina acts like someone who has never seen a salad fork and cummerbund before! That would be so obvious." She glanced over to Zerina, her smile widening. "But, if she's just naturally terrible at everything, like she usually is with this kind of stuff, then it wouldn't be her fault at all that she can't be a 'proper lady'."

Zerina made a face at the slight insult. "Hey, I'm not 'naturally terrible' at everything!"

Tetra's smile dropped as she looked at her younger friend seriously. "Z, I love you and you know that I'm only looking out for your best interests. And the fact of the matter is..." She took a deep breath before saying," You can't dance."

Zerina gasped at that and looked to Samael in shock. "Yes I can! Tell her. Sam!"

Samael tried to hold in a cringe at the thought, but failed miserably. "You're very... spastic."

Zerina inhaled sharply at his lack of support. "I am _not_ a spastic dancer!" she enunciated each word slowly.

"Sixth grade Halloween dance at Hartford Middle School, Z," Tetra rattled off quickly. "You kept asking me for the next three years why nobody would ask you to any more dances, and _that_ was the reason why."

"Andrew Simmons is a god damn liar!" Zerina's voice raised a decibel or two as well as an octave. "He stepped on my feet the whole time, but I never complained! I do it one time, and it's the end of the world!"

"You broke his foot, Rina," Samael cut in humorously, his arms crossed as his lips quirked up in an amused smile.

"Oh, please, he was a terrible rugby player and he was going to cost the team a few games already anyways," Zerina tossed back angrily.

"Zer, he was captain of the team!" Tetra reminded her best friend exasperatedly.

"Yes, let's all forget the blatant nepotism that ensued in order for him to get that position!" At Tetra's confused expression, Zerina elaborated, counting off on her fingers. "His older brother, uncles, and dad were all star players and ran those teams for a good solid twenty years! Of course they'll give the precious Simmons baby a cushy job, regardless of his ineptness at kicking a ball!"

Tetra's eyes tightened some more as she stared at Zerina blankly. "I don't think you get how rugby is played, Zerina."

"At any rate," Samael cut in before Zerina's anger could get more worked up and back into the danger zone, "the plan is for you, Rina, to just be yourself and let this whole Cotillion thing blow over."

"I'm _not_ terrible at dancing," Zerina grumbled halfheartedly.

Samael laughed softly and patted Zerina on the back. "Yes, we know. Cuz you're actually kind of _awful_ at it." His smile grew when he heard her giggle a bit, glad that he got her to do that much.

"So, big question, guys," Kent's low voice cut in. When the other three teens turned their eyes on him, he continued. "What if, and this is a big 'if", Zerina actually ends up being great at this? How will that work-" He stopped himself at Samael's and Tetra's sudden burst of laughter. "I was being serious!"

Samael and Tetra still continued in their mirth, not showing any signs of stopping. Kent sighed and roamed his light blue eyes over to his younger cousin. "I really was being serious. You did okay with your foreign language tutors."

Tetra managed to pause her giggles as she overheard that last comment. "Are you kidding me?" She held up both of her hands and bent a finger down as she began to list what she knew. "Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Greek, uhhh..." She furrowed her brow, before suddenly finishing loudly," oh, and French!"

Zerina held in her irritation as she crossed her arms and threw back grouchily," My Russian isn't bad. Uncle Trowa says I was great at that."

Tetra raised an eyebrow at that proclamation. " Da neuzheli?"

Zerina made a face and slouched further back into her chair. "Chert voz'mi."

Samael, who had finally calmed down, smirked in Kent's direction. "Yep, she was always good at learning the _bad_ words in other languages."

Kent gave a small shrug. "Well, she could always add it to the list of things that will get her out of cotillion."

Samael looked to Zerina and motioned to Kent with his right hand at the suggestion. "See, there you go! Some more helpful suggestions." After a moment's thought, he frowned a little. "Although, it does mean that you're going to have to stick it out a bit longer at those practices. It's not like this is the sort of thing that gets noticed right away. You up for that?"

Zerina didn't even hesitate when she answered," Hell, yes! Anything will be worth it, just as long as I'm out." She glanced to the unfinished car sitting in the middle of the garage. "I would _really_ love to get that thing working this year. We've been putting it off for far too long. I don't want to waste my summer on curtsies and fancy dresses."

Samael opened his mouth to respond, but a loud banging on the side door brought the four pairs of eyes over to the senior Maxwell standing there with a huge smile on his face. "Knock knock, kiddos!," he announced loudly. Once he was sure that he had all four adolescents' rapt attention, he focused on his second oldest child and Zerina. "You two. Out!" To Tetra and Kent, he gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. "Lady Winner, Lord Peacecraft."

Kent gave a slight wave as he went to organize his tools, while Tetra giggled at the titles bestowed upon them. "Always a pleasure, Mr. Maxwell."

Duo smiled broadly and glanced to his son and Zerina, who were slowly gathering their belongings. "Any day now, guys. Would love it if you two would learn to put some pep in your step. Heero's waiting." At Zerina's questioning glance, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Your little disappearing act after school today was reported. Luckily, I was still driving at 'a reasonable speed' as per your mother's request, so your dad answered the phone. She doesn't know anything." At the relaxation of her shoulders, he couldn't help but add," _Yet_."

Zerina tensed back up, and then let out a deep sigh as her hand gripped her backpack a little too tightly for comfort. "I guess I should prepare myself for the inevitable screamfest."

Duo patted her on the back reassuringly. "Nah, your dad wouldn't sell you out." As they exited the garage, he gave a low chuckle to himself. "Mostly because _his_ ass will be in the doghouse, but you get the idea." He strode further ahead of the second generation as he kept talking. "So, we got a lot to talk about. Mostly, the semi-secret lame plan your dad came up with to sneak you back into the house. But first, I want to know what got you to ditch those stupid after-school meetings. I have a hundred bucks riding on your answer."

"Wonderful," Zerina mumbled. She glanced back to Samael as he shut the door. He flashed a sympathetic smile towards her, his blue-violet eyes showing their usual twinkle of amusement, and shoved his hands into his pockets. As he sped up his steps to edge closer to her, she tried to ignore Duo's ramblings, as well as the sudden speeding of her heart from Samael's proximity, deciding to instead focus on her new plan of action.

Cotillion was supposed to be a roughly two month endeavor, with two practices a week. She needed to get herself kicked out within the next three weeks, otherwise she would be trapped for the whole summer when school let out. Once she received the schedule of events at the upcoming Saturday's practice, she would have a better idea on what she would need to "fail" at. She smiled a little at the thought, surprising herself slightly at how much she was actually looking forward to Saturday.


	7. Chapter 7

**Cotillion**

* * *

Zerina wasn't even halfway through the side door of the Winner Mansion's East Wing, before she heard Tetra's hurried loud whisper coming at her from up ahead down the wooden hallway. "Where the hell have you been? The lesson's about to start!"

Zerina frowned at her dearest friend's frantic behavior and continued her leisurely pace towards the platinum blonde as she she shrugged out of her black cardigan. "I'm sorry, I was unaware that I was late by being here _five_ minutes early."

Terta's eyes widened at Zerina's words and she held back the urge to scream at her friend. She settled for a quick stomp of her white heeled feet instead and motioned around the large hallway exasperatedly. "How many times do I have to tell you, Zer? _Fifteen_ minutes early is 'on time', on time is 'late', and late is 'why the hell did you even bother showing up'." As Zerina stepped painfully slower to Tetra, her friend's teal blue eyes darted up and down her figure in an almost judging manner, before she gasped in shock. "Are you seriously wearing those shoes?!" she squeaked, pointing to Zerina's black rhinestone flats.

Zerina's eyes narrowed in confusion as she blinked at Tetra's perturbing question. "Um, yes? They said wear shoes to dance in."

Tetra closed her eyes and flung her arms over her face in a dramatic fashion, causing Zerina to laugh on the inside at how her friend was acting so much like her mother at the moment. Not that she would ever tell her that out loud and especially in the mood her best friend was presently in. Zerina enjoyed her life, no matter how crappy her current situation was.

Tetra opened her eyes and grabbed Zerina by the arm, tugging her down the hallway towards the stairway that lead up to the second floor of the mansion. "Come on, I'll give you one of mine to borrow for now. Madame Lautrec is _not_ going to be happy seeing you in flats." She felt Zerina jerk out of her grip. Tetra paused in her steps to look at her friend who was glaring at her in a way that made her look eerily like her dad. "What?" she asked, completely unfazed to the stare at this point in their sixteen year friendship to let it bother her.

"Are you serious? What's wrong with these shoes? Is this Madame lady really going to make a big deal about it?" Zerina seemed to genuinely not know what the problem was.

Which, in all fairness, was true, since nobody outside of the Winner family and a few other select elite upper society families knew of the infamous dance instructor.

Tetra snickered at Zerina's ignorance and shook her head, turning back to the stairs as she began to climb them. "Just trust me on this. And hurry up, we have, like, less than two minutes to get back down there!" 

**xxXoXxx**

They made it upstairs to Tetra's room, grabbed an appropriate pair of black two-inch chunky heels after a quick silent perusal, and back down in four minutes. Zerina was doing a combination of walking and stumbling as she lagged a few steps behind Tetra in an attempt to switch out her flats to the stupid heels to save time.

She managed to get her right foot into the second heel after a minor struggle and stopped in front of the main doorway to one of the smaller ballrooms that the dance practice was being held in. With a little wiggle of her foot, she was able to wrap the strap around her ankle and secure it in place with the obnoxiously tiny hook and buckle.

Her light blue eyes darted up to look for Tetra when she realized that her friend was no longer with her. Just as she was trying to figure out where her best friend went off to, the blonde had managed to pop out of a side hallway and motioned crazily with her arms.

"Not there! They'll see you! Come this way through the side door and we can sneak in from the back of the group!"

Zerina just couldn't understand why her friend bothered to whisper when she was so loud at it anyways, but shrugged it off in favor of admiration that at least Tetra was _finally_ taking some notes from Zerina's troublemaker book to have thought of sneaking into the practice. She smirked at the thought that it only took her ten years to corrupt someone so sweet and innocent.

She walked as fast at the heels allowed and followed Tetra through the tiny hallway which lead to the side door that she spoke of. Zerina had to give Tetra more credit when she saw the doorway. Not only did it have a small window to peek through to spy on the large group in the ballroom, but it also opened into a small alcove of sorts, making it completely hidden from the other teens gathered in the room with their backs turned to them. All the two girls had to do was slip in and casually step up to the back of the crowd. The bonus was that most of the "specially chosen boys" were in the back, and their heights would easily hide the two girls' entrance from whoever this Madame Lautrec was.

She let Tetra do the honors and open the door, following her friend into the alcove, before they shut the door softly behind them, giving each other thumbs up in pride at how quiet they were being, crouching a little as they crept up to the group and hiding behind the tallest boys they could find, grateful for not getting caught.

That is, until, a deep voice with a touch of an attempt at a feminine inflection suddenly boomed out," Ah, it's nice to see you grace us with your presence, Miss Winner!"

Zerina glanced over to her friend and watched in a sympathetic manner as her friend visibly deflated from her position behind a muscular sandy blonde boy. Tetra let out a sigh and stood up to her full height as she stepped around the boy and raised her chin up in defiance. "I will apologize for interrupting your introduction, Madame, but nothing more, as I was merely helping someone and should not be faulted for my generous nature."

Madame Lautrec chuckled a little as Zerina was mostly glad that her best friend didn't quite throw her under the bus. She made a mental note to buy her friend her favorite ice cream after school the upcoming Monday. In the meantime, she tried to stand up a little more on her toes to look at how intimidating this Madame Lautrec really was.

"Well, well, well, Miss Winner... It's good to finally see that fiery Catalonia passion in your eyes. But let's just save that for your waltzing and other dances, where it's desperately needed, and not your sass, okay?"

Zerina's eyes widened slightly at the minor insult flung nonchalantly at her friend and studied Tetra's expression intently, hoping she wasn't upset. Apparently, Tetra must have been used to this, because all she did in response was roll her eyes and cross her arms in irritation. Zerina decided right then that she was going to pull her friend aside on the first break to grill her on how well she knew this dance instructor.

Her eyes were drawn back to the front when Madame Lautrec's distinctive voice obstreperously intruded into her thoughts. "And little friend of Tetra's? Where are you?"

Zerina cringed as the heavyset boy in front of her glanced back to discover her hiding spot, and he turned slightly to his right to expose her to the dance instructor. She didn't dare look to her friend to see what her expression might be. Knowing the only Winner child, it was most likely a cross between sympathy and amusement.

She steadily watched Madame Lautrec, a tall caramel skinned man even before slipping into red stilettos, jet black hair pulled tightly into a bun, and dressed strangely in a perfectly pressed and starched white suit, as his piercing hazel green eyes searched the crowd and then narrowed at her slowly when they caught his target.

"Oh, you must be Eva Peacecraft!" A smirk that almost looked like her aunt Dorothy's when she was ready to attack somebody with a heavy barrage of words crept slowly upon Madame Lautrec's dimpled face. "Miss Dorothy has told me _so_ much about you." Madame Lautrec stepped through the group of teens to reach Zerina, glancing down at her a good solid foot below.

Not wanting to allow the towering figure in front of her any hint of fear at this blatant act of intimidation, Zerina merely returned the smirk back, crossing her arms over her chest. "All good things, I'm sure," she stated confidently.

Madame Lautrec snorted, eyes closing briefly, before they settled on hers piercingly. "And there's your father's cocky influence shining through that dark and mysterious exterior you walled around yourself so nicely." This was said with a hand flourish motioning around Zerina.

Zerina couldn't help the frown that jumped to her face, wondering how on earth and the colonies this whack job knew her father.

Having sensed that she was about to ask, Madame Lautrec's smile turned a bit more sly. "What? You think your father learned to dance all by himself? He could barely waltz when I first met him! It's because of me that he's become a much more polished dancer who could actually give his beloved the wedding dance deserving of a queen!"

She knew she couldn't, nay _shouldn't_ , do what she was about to do, but Zerina lost all sense of self-control at the thought of the mixed hulking and feminine being in front of her teaching her dad how to dance. The speculation as to the possible methods of the mysterious instructor and her father's reactions to them was too much for her, and she snorted loudly in an unbecoming manner, before bursting into slight giggles, until eventually she was hunched over laughing mirthfully. "You _have_ to tell me how you got him to listen to you!" she managed to say through her laughter. "Did you use any psychological techniques, or physical ones, like an electrical collar?"

The only response was an unamused perfectly groomed raised right eyebrow. As Zerina tried to settle down, there came an exasperated sigh and a clap of the well-manicured hands. "All right, let's get back to where we were! I've grown bored with this conversation." And with an exaggerated flourish and swivel of the hips, Madame Lautrec spun away from Zerina back to the front of the group, sashaying through the gathered teens who just as quickly turned their attention back to the dance instructor.

Zerina watched this dramatic display with slight irritation, before taking the chance to look to her best blonde friend. Tetra gave a weak smile and small toss of the shoulders, clearly not wanting to explain further and made a motion with her aqua green eyes to focus at the front now.

Zerina's lips twisted to the right into a half pout, her annoyance starting to mount with each passing second. She begrudgingly did as her friend silently requested, taking in a deep breath, and letting it out loudly, though nobody acknowledged her immature action. She had at least two hours before the next break. 

**xxXoXxx**

"...And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, spin!" Madame Lautrec's voice continued to drone on as Zerina, completely spaced out at this point, nearly lost her balance from the sudden spin. She stomped on her current six-foot-four dance partner's right foot so hard with Tetra's slightly larger heels that she thought she saw tears in his brown eyes when he shot her a pained scowl.

"Ow, god damn you!"

Zerina rolled her eyes as her partner, who she never bothered to learn his name, practically threw her hands back towards her so as to grab his foot from the apparent injury. "Oh, please, like I really hurt you that bad," she spat back at him, folding her arms over her chest as his choice of words caused her to be on the immediate defensive. At his shocked glare, she cocked her head to the side and shrugged dismissively. "What? I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was dancing with a big baby and not just a monstrous giant from the Land of Ogres!"

Before her partner could shoot back a response, Madame Lautrec's voice boomed out the long awaited," Okay, gentlemen, time to switch to the next person on your right!"

Zerina gave a little wave with a sarcastic goodbye thrown in as her now former partner stalked off to the next girl. She pretended not to hear the muttered "self-centered bitch" he didn't have the courage to say to her face and turned her attention to the next boy sauntering her way.

This guy was much closer to her height, just a few inches taller than her five-foot-five, and he actually smiled at her when he approached her unlike the previous thirteen idiots, his full lips nearly drawing attention away from his shining greenish-blue eyes. She was about to offer a polite greeting when he killed his "nice guy" image by letting out a low whistle and letting those damn eyes wander over, under, and all around her body.

"Damn, girl, you're probably the finest chick here!" He glanced backwards toward the opposite corner where she knew for safety and strategy's sake Eloise was located. "Outside of Elly over there and the boss lady's innocent princess." He took a few steps closer, lifting his hands up suggestively to her. "But I definitely like brunettes way more than blondes."

Zerina narrowed her eyes at him and took a huge step away from him. "Nope. Not happening. Beat it, creep, before I get my shop tools and rip you apart piece by..." she looked pointedly to his nether regions that were, _ugh_ , distastefully displayed in incredibly tight black slacks,"... tiny piece."

The golden-curled boy's face looked bemusedly at her, before his eyes widened slightly as he slowly realized she was being serious. With a slight shrug, he practically strutted away, hands in his pockets towards the back where tables were set up with refreshments. "Feisty little..."

Zerina was grateful she didn't hear the last part and glanced over to her left at the other couples. The nod of approval and grateful smile from the red haired girl just barely looking over her tall partner's shoulder to the right confirmed to Zerina that she reacted properly. It was apparent that _boy_ was hitting on all the girls in a disrespectful manner.

Zerina took the spare time to sit at a conveniently placed chair by the wall next to her, and went about adjusting the straps on Tetra's shoes. Despite her being taller than the Winner heiress by a good six inches, the platinum blonde's feet were a shoe size or two bigger than her own. She would definitely have to make an investment into "proper" fitting heels as unappealingly as the task was.

She let out a long sigh and looked up, studying the swaying teenage couples for a moment. The whole routine was incredibly dull and stupid to her and she just wanted to leave already. And she still hadn't found out a better way to get out of this stupid function!

After a few more minutes of rumination, the call to switch partners was shouted again and Zerina reluctantly got to her feet. She absentmindedly brushed a few stray bits of lint off of her black ruffled blouse, noting that the golden-haired boy she chased away had already taken up position with the next girl. As Zerina maneuvered back into her spot on the dance floor, she glanced to her right at the red-haired girl and her newest partner.

When her eyes locked onto the tall boy, she tried not to react at what she saw. Her mouth moved faster than her brain, though.

"Oh, _shit_!" she uttered to herself in disbelief. Her day had definitely gotten worse. 


	8. Chapter 8

Cotillion

* * *

Zerina took in a deep breath as the familiar face of the scumbag from the Young Diplomats meeting locked his golden eyes onto hers. There was a slight raise to his eyebrows as recognition kicked in and his steps slowed a bit as he cautiously approached her.

He got about three feet away from Zerina, before stopping, raising his hands up slowly to his chest. "So, hey, there. Didn't expect to cross paths with you again." There was a hint of a smirk twitching at the left side of his lips.

Zerina's crystal blue eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms and took two large steps back. "Nope. Not doing this." She waved him off with her right hand. "Go away!" she hissed lowly.

"Miss Peacecraft!" the booming voice of Madame Lautrec shouted from across the ballroom, causing the many dancing teens to jump at the suddenness. "I've seen you turn away four prospective escorts already. Five is too many!"

Zerina tried to reign in her growing anger as all eyes turned to the back at her. Some of the dancing couples shifted so as to let Madame Lautrec get a good view of her as well. She tried to ignore Ogre kid, who was smirking at her as if this was some sort of Karmic punishment. Although, it probably might be, now that she thought of it.

"You are to dance with-" Madame Lautrec turned his eyes to the boy next to her who readily filled in the blank with his name.

"Hector, sir," the teen said with a slight bow.

Madame Lautrec noticeably flinched at the word "sir" and continued. "You are to dance with Hector for the remainder of tonight's practice, do you understand me?"

Zerina straightened to her full height and raised her chin in defiance. "And if I don't?"

Madame Lautrec stared at the young girl blankly for a moment and then gave a shrug of his shoulders, turning away partially with a sniff of indifference. "I have neither the patience nor the attention span to bother with disciplining unruly teenagers. You can do whatever you wish."

There was another pause, where Zerina frowned slightly in confusion at what she understood was a free pass and the other kids simply gaping in shock at the lackadaisical approach of the usually more forceful dance instructor.

Sure enough, Madame Lautrec looked up thoughtfully, a perfectly french manicured finger pointed onto his chin. "Oh, but there is the Duchess herself who might feel the need to take matters into her own hands. That is, if she doesn't choose to contact your father as per your mother's instructions first."

Zerina bit her lower lip in frustration, her crossed arms tightening around herself even further as she thought over the cursed instructor's words. Her mind flashed immediately back to the night over a week ago when Duo had brought her home from her cousin's house. She'd had a not so pleasant conversation with her father.

 **-x-X-X-x-**

 _The back door was unlocked, despite the porch light being off. Zerina took it as a sign that her father really didn't want to get in trouble with her mother that night. After the already long evening and the twice told tale of why she ditched her meeting, she was all too willing to call it night and crash into the comfort of her bed._

 _Sadly, her father had other plans. Upon quietly entering the house into the kitchen and setting her bag down, there was a shifting noise to her left that caught her attention. She glanced over to the kitchen table and noted her dad sitting there, staring at her intently with his arms crossed, the look of annoyance mixed with disappointment plastered on his face._

 _She knew that look all too well, something she'd witnessed a few times, but in the most recent three years of her life. That was the look that told her he meant business and would have to do some disciplining, a task he usually left to Relena, and was none to pleased about having to do now._

 _She sighed and tried to avoid the inevitable conversation, stepping a bit too quickly past the island counter and dinner table towards the hallway that lead to the living area of the house._

" _Sit down," came the calm, but stern answer to her cheap act of evasion._

 _Zerina paused in her steps, closing her eyes momentarily and turned towards Heero, hoping to reason with him a bit. "Dad, I'm really tired, and already told the story too many times. Can we just do this tomorrow instead?"_

 _At Heero's slight narrowing of his deep blue eyes and the look on his face darkening, Zerina held back any more words and promptly flopped into the wooden chair opposite her father at the dining table. She averted her gaze a bit and tried to focus on something other than the scary look on her father's face._

" _What do you want to know?" she asked quietly._

 _Heero's posture relaxed slightly and he uncrossed his arms to rest them on the table. "What happened today?"_

 _Despite the vague question, she knew exactly what he meant. She didn't dare try to be a smart ass and dodge the query by asking for specifics, as per her routine behavior. Tonight was_ definitely _not the night to mouth off to her dad. "I was called on to debate some new kid about the Gundams and whether they helped end the war or prolonged it. He said some stuff that pissed me off and..." She paused, her right hand tightening into a fist at the memory, surprising herself a bit at how it was still affecting her. She hurriedly blurted out the next part, more from her strangely large amount of discomfort with the whole scenario. "And I guess it got to me a lot more than I expected. I lost control of my emotions and started to cry, so I bailed."_

 _At this last part, she slowly turned her eyes upwards towards her father to gauge his reaction, hoping he wouldn't ask specifically about what that idiot from the meeting said. She really didn't want to repeat those horrible things to him. To her confusion, Heero seemed irritated, but not with her._

" _Why were you picked for that particular topic?" he asked her, his deep voice laced with a bit of anger betraying the calm look on his face._

 _Zerina frowned at this line of questioning and gave a small shrug. "I don't know. I guess because I wasn't paying attention since I was doing my geometry homework instead." Despite her suspicions about Ms. Santos possibly choosing her because of her lineage, she felt that sharing that information with her father wouldn't be a wise decision at the moment._

 _This wound up being a useless tactic as her father's face had now turned into his well known glare of death, the look that many feared. She took in a deep breath as she tried to understand this turn of events. "Dad?" she asked carefully._

" _They're not supposed to ask you or tell you to comment on anything regarding your mother or the Gundams," he answered stiffly, a hint of fire burning in his Prussian eyes._

 _Zerina's brows furrowed together even further at that statement. "Wait, what?" She tried to process her entire school life through her mind, wondering how true that was. "Since when?"_

 _Heero seemed to compose himself a bit and focused his eyes on hers. "Since you and your brother started school. It was your mother's idea." He paused and glanced upwards toward what Zerina assumed was where her very pregnant mother was currently sleeping on the second floor. Her dad seemed extra cautious of this fact and lowered his voice. "She felt that while it was important that you kids know the truth about who we are and what we did-" he ignored Zerina's snort of dissonance," - having you two in school with the civilian population wouldn't be ideal, unless there were some restrictions. Any discussion brought up, whether innocently on the playground, or in the classroom, would pose a problem, as you guys would reveal information that the general public would have never been privy to. This would create many unnecessary problems, for you guys_ and _for us."_

 _Zerina took this in quietly, her mind still ruminating its contents to back this revelation up. There were a few random projects that came up, but thus far, her father was correct in this assertion. She made a face at this new bit of information, amazed that she never realized this before. "But... I mean..." she tried to formulate some sort of response. "How did you even get the schools to agree to this?" She did a quick calculation in her head. "That's seven different schools!"_

 _While most kids would attend the usual three to four school levels for their education, the Peacecraft-Yuy children were the exception. Even though Zerina was the well known troublemaker of the family, Aleph had managed to get himself kicked out of two different preschools_ and _an elementary school._

 _Heero simply tossed his shoulders nonchalantly. "We had the faculty sign non-disclosure agreements before we even enrolled you and your brother. Many were all too willing to do anything we asked just to have you guys attend their schools." His expression turned blank as he thought that memory over. "It's disturbing what we could have had them all do in the name of claiming a Peacecraft as a student for their 'prestigious' schools."_

 _Zerina rolled her eyes at this and shook her head in disbelief. "Of course you did. You guys are really fond of those things."_

 _There was an almost smug look on her father's face at her comment. "Joke all you want about it, but there's a reason for that. Your_ safety _, for one thing." At her questioning look, he briefly elaborated. "There had been a few death threats and kidnapping attempts against you those first few years. Nothing that actually reached you, but precautions had to be made. The main one being that any person who asks about you, your whereabouts, or any other personal information is to be reported to me right away."_

 _Zerina's eyes widened at this and she gasped in shock. "Are you serious?!" At her father's pointed glare and quick motion of his eyes upwards to the second floor of the household, she lowered her voice to a whisper and continued. "Why? It's not like anybody cares that much anymore about revenge. The wars were almost twenty-five years ago!"_

 _Heero looked to her, his expression turning serious. "You'd be surprised, sweetheart," he muttered somberly._

 _Zerina sobered up and glanced away from her dad, not wanting to bring the next subject up, but her sudden fatigue from the day catching up with her. "Sooo... what's my punishment?" Her hands were twisting in her lap, a nervous gesture that she hadn't quite squashed ._

 _Her father mulled this over for a few minutes. "I'm not sure I like this situation entirely too much."  
_

" _It was only one meeting," she muttered out quickly without thinking._

 _Heero's glared sharpened on her. "That you were supposed to attend as punishment for fighting. For the rest of the school year. That I was so kind as to go up against your mother and negotiate on your behalf. "_

 _Her crystal blue eyes locked onto his as she refrained from speaking any further, pretty sure that anything more would just dig a bigger grave for her at this point. His pointed words had broken through her usual Peacecraft stubbornness and she really couldn't dispute his very valid points._

 _They continued to stare at each other like this for a while before Heero took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm not saying anything to your mother about this. More for my benefit than yours," he added the last sentence quickly. At Zerina's slight nod of acknowledgment, he continued. "You are to attend every single practice and event associated with the stupid Cotillion thing, as this will make your mother extremely happy and you not so much. Any, and I do mean_ any _, special extra credit thing that comes up or volunteer situation that comes your way, you are to take, no questions asked. For possible conflicts you will confer to me and we will discuss on a case by case basis. I feel that this is the best way to rectify the situation that I really feel uncomfortable about addressing, considering the other broken contractual agreement factor."_

 _He leveled his sharp blue gaze on her, checking to see that she was paying attention, before he went on, knowing this next part would rouse a groan of displeasure from her. "You are to come straight home each night from school, Cotillion practices, and other approved activities. No garage time unless all of these terms are met. And that will be on Saturdays only. I will get back to you in regards to the Young Diplomat meetings, but I reserve the right to make any changes when that situation gets figured out. Do you agree to these terms?"_

 _Zerina took a second to consider what her father presented to her, knowing that he laid out the most fair punishment he could come up with, despite it meaning more work on her end. She had no choice, really, despite his asking for her confirmation. That question had been more of a ceremonial purpose, but she still appreciated the gesture._

 _She reached out her right hand and took a firm hold onto her father's, and shook it. "I really can't say no at this point, now can I?"_

 _His low chuckle caused her mood to lighten up a bit and she smiled slightly. "Glad to know you understand what it's like to deal with your mother."_

 **-x-X-X-x-**

Remembering the agreement with her father and the predetermined consequence of not being able to hang out with Sam and Kent later more or less made the cringe inducing decision for her. Zerina's jaw clenched tightly and her expression changed quickly to that which resembled her father at his angriest. She lifted her hands up towards _stupid_ Hector, and took the stance of the first steps to the basic waltz they were learning, all the while ignoring the looks of sheer stupefaction that the whole room was throwing her way.

She could practically feel Madame Lautrec's smug look of pride as he turned back to the front of the ballroom and clapped his hands, bringing the teenagers back to the present and their dance lesson. Zerina could feel her face heating up from anger as the jerk gently took hold of her hands and stepped a bit guardedly towards her.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Tetra's look of complete horror, her jaw dropped as loosely as Zerina's was tight, her dance partner's gentle nudging not enough to pull her out of her shock. Zerina felt her lips twitch up at her bestie's reaction, before reality crashed in and the idiot spoke to her.

"You know, I'm really sorry if I somehow upset you the other day," his deep voice cut through her thoughts. He almost, _almost_ , seemed genuinely remorseful.

But Zerina wasn't having any of it. "Shut up and dance. I don't care what you have to say to me. I just want to get through this day and forget any of this ever happened."

To her frustration, the prick had the nerve to chuckle lowly to himself and _smile_ at her. "As you wish, princess."

Zerina missed a step at the word "princess" and stumbled forward, her partner's warm and surprisingly strong grasp preventing her from bashing her face into the professionally polished hardwood floor. She jerked away from him quickly, and tried to regain her composure for the sake of her garage solitude she so dearly wanted.

Nobody was ever allowed to call her "princess", except for Sam, and Dorothy, the latter of whom had recently made a big show about it the practice before when they were taught about proper titles and nobility. She absolutely hated being called that, for a multitude of reasons. Sam only got away with it because he was the originator of the "term of endearment" and it had been going on for most of their lives. But _this_ guy, this damned fool, had the nerve to do it right off the bat. It was as if he was daring her to kill him on the spot.

Her face scrunched up together as she tried to calm herself, forcing her mind to focus on the many things her mother had told her. As much as she wanted to punch him in the stomach, she felt that it was best to heed her mother's advice and take the _diplomatic_ approach. She so desperately wanted to work her anger out on the car even more so now.

She took a huge, very long deep breath in, before letting it out slowly, and stepped back towards Hector. "I do not appreciate being called princess," she grounded out carefully, raising her hands up to be joined with his. "I would be ever so _grateful_ if you would refrain from doing so in the future."

Hector simply grinned back and shrugged this off, not even realizing how practically painful it was for her to say this to him. "Sure, no problem." He clasped one of his warm hands over hers and wrapped the other around her waist, pulling her closer towards him. She could actually see green flecks in his amber eyes from this new proximity. Her breath hitched a bit, much to her chagrin, and she hoped he hadn't noticed.

If he had, Hector had the decency not to acknowledge it and instead asked softly," What would you like me to call you instead?"

Zerina's breathing stopped for a second at his low voice and what she suspected was a flirtatious tone. Thankfully, Madame Lautrec chose this moment to announce that it was break time, and she managed to catch her breath and pull back away from Hector quickly without having to answer.

As the group of teenagers came her way towards the back where the refreshment tables and chairs were set, Zerina rushed past them to get to Tetra, ignoring the pointed glare that Eloise had for some reason decided to throw her way.

"Rina, what the-" Tetra had started, but Zerina grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out towards one of the hallways, stopping her from finishing her question.

"T, I know. We've got _tons_ to talk about right now. But first, let's get the hell out of here."


End file.
